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The S. O. S. Call of Youth 


BY 

NELLIE E. FRIEND 




1923 

THE MURRAY PRESS 
BOSTON, MASS. 


WCmz 

.FT 


COPYRIGHT, 1923 

THE UNIVERSALIST PUBLISHING HOUSE 



VAIL-BALLOU PRESS, INC. 

BINGHAMTON AND NEW YORK 


otC lO 1923 

©C1A7G0260 


To 

MY HUSBAND 

WHOSE SYMPATHETIC INTEREST AND EN 
COURAGEMENT HAS MADE THIS BOOK POSSIBLE 









CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAG® 

Preface.5 

Foreword.12 

I What is the most Wonderful and 

Precious Thing in this World? 15 

II What is the most Dangerous Thing 

in this World and Why? . . 21 

III How Make the Child Safe for the 

World?.31 

IV Hbw Make the World Safe for the 

Child?.65 

V How to Make the World the King¬ 
dom of God.79 

VI If This be True—What Then? . . 123 






PREFACE 


I have worked for and with children and 
young people for sixteen years—yes, have 
played and studied with them—sixteen 
of the choicest and richest years of my 
life! 

I have, during that time, been constantly 
impressed with this fact: that parents, in 
the majority of cases, do not understand 
their children. Just about the time they 
think they do, the child changes and the 
parents say, “We can’t understand her— 
she never was like that before,” and to her 
they say, “What ails you anyway?” Par¬ 
ents love their children, try to do every¬ 
thing they can for them, except to un¬ 
derstand them. Many have voluntarily 
told me that they have no time to really 
make a study of their children and yet 
they realize it to be essential. 

While these impressions were getting 
deeper and deeper, because of what par¬ 
ents themselves had told me, young people 
between the ages of 17 and 24 would, from 


PREFACE 


time to time, come to me with what seemed 
to them to be real troubles. 

“My mother doesn’t understand me!” 
“She doesn’t trust me—she seems to think 
I am still a child,” or “I have something I 
want to ask your advice about.” After 
hearing the story I have said, “Why don’t 
you explain that to your mother?” “My 
mother! Why I wouldn’t dare to! She 
wouldn’t understand,” or “Well, I have 
tried to tell mother but every time I start 
to—well—there’s something about her, I 
don’t know what it is, but I just can’t.” 
Another, “My mother and I get along 
beautifully when we are alone, but father 
seems to think I ought to be just like my 
brothers. Because I’m not, he’s always at 
me. I don’t know what the matter is with 
him. When he gets me to crying, then he 
loses his temper.” 

You can readily understand why my im¬ 
pressions have deepened into convictions. 

Other people not desiring help, have 
said to me, “Folks who do not have chil¬ 
dren can always tell those who do how 
to bring them up.” Not always! How I 
wish they could! If each and every 
woman who hasn’t children would give 
time, thought and money to study and work 
out these problems, she might help to 


PREFACE 


justify her own existence and might be 
able to assist these parents who want to 
know better, who long to be better fathers 
and mothers, but whose time is: so occupied 
in their daily rounds of duty that it seems 
well nigh impossible. 

This is the reason for my book. 

Most books on child study are so techni¬ 
cal, requiring the reading of much that is 
uninteresting, except to the student, that 
I had an earnest desire to be able to put 
in a form which could be read in three or 
four hours, and which would, to an earnest 
parent, be suggestive and workable, some 
of the things which I believe to be true be¬ 
cause fundamental and constructive. 

This book is not intended as a treatise 
on psychology but a simple talk on one of 
the simplest yet the most complex and mis¬ 
understood problems of our time. It is 
far from exhaustive—in fact is only in¬ 
tended to be suggestive and stimulating. 

While the writing of it was inspired by 
fathers and mothers themselves, as well 
as by young people, it is published with the 
hope that it may serve, in some helpful 
way, the teachers also, who are, with par¬ 
ents, building up God’s kingdom. 

As a reader you may not agree with 
everything I say, but consider if there be 

7 


PREFACE 


an element of truth in it. What I have 
said will be true for you when and as you 
work it out, to some degree, in your child 
or youth, or others with whom you come 
in contact. 

I am convinced that the truth of it will 
grow on you (as it has on me) as you see 
it work out. 

I agree with the writer who says, “ Youth 
seems to be happy, carefree, and confident, 
but because it is a life of growth it really 
is a life of a kind of suffering. Youth is 
living in a world which seems as solid 
as a rock but which changes, contradicts 
and takes new forms constantly before his 
very eyes, keen, watchful and observing as 
he is. It is a life of adjustment. Religion 
is beginning to take a personal form. 
That something within him which reaches 
upward in aspiration, faith, and hope, 
seems to find contradiction in the things 
which touch his life—life seems inconsis¬ 
tent.^ 

“Our young people see two belts of life, 
one seemingly running in the opposite di¬ 
rection from the other. We must help them 
to see there is but one belt.” We must get 
back and back into our own souls and then 
go up and up in spiritual thought until 

we reach our God-life—then reflect that 

8 


PREFACE 


life so that our youth will see God working 
in and through everything, every experi¬ 
ence, and every person—then, seeing, they 
will understand and know God. 

Teachers and parents having more than 
one child tell us that no two children or 
young people are alike—if that be true no 
two should be dealt with in just the same 
w r ay. Each person’s problem is different, 
therefore in some cases I have not been 
specific, but if you, as a reader, will take 
these as suggestions, making your own 
application, I can see the promise of noth¬ 
ing less than that we shall have citizens 
with a better understanding, one of the 
other, and therefore holding more neigh¬ 
borly attitudes. 

Actual conditions show that our civiliza¬ 
tion is threatened unless we ourselves and 
through us our young people become more 
conscious, up through the years, of our 
relations with the world as a whole. 

We must acquaint ourselves and our 
young people with the lives, aspirations, 
achievements and hardships of others in 
the universe. This is an age when we 
needs must (more than ever before) be¬ 
come universally informed, universally 
interested, universally sympathetic, and 
we can show that we are, by training and 

9 


PREFACE 


developing our children and young people 
into world citizens. 

The world war has proved wliat many 
had before known to be true—that no com¬ 
munity, state or nation any more than an 
individual can live unto itself except to 
the detriment of all. 

As physical disease is contagious, so 
intellectual and moral disease, whether in 
a person or nation, becomes contagious. 

So must we become not only informed 
of existing conditions in other parts of the 
world, but interested and sympathetic 
enough to be willing to do our part in 
solving the problems involved. This is 
what I mean by becoming world-citizens. 
Through such citizenship during peace 
times as we showed in war time we shall 
be able to train and develop our children 
and young people into world-citizens. 

This is the purpose of this book: to in¬ 
timate or suggest things not necessarily 
new to the readers, but to arrange, explain 
and analyze in such a way as will help to 
make clearer, perhaps, how back of all 
development (physical, mental, moral and 
spiritual) certain basic and fundamental 
laws are at work, how out of that which 
God sends to us in the form of a babe, we 

can, if we observe these laws, build not 

10 


PREFACE 


only citizens more worthy to live in 
this world, but to enter any world that 
may be beyond this world. 

As each individual is developed to the 
full stature of a man, I feel reasonably 
sure, we shall, together, to a degree, 
achieve Heaven here because of having 
developed the Kingdom of God. 


11 


FOREWORD 


For some years I have read extensively 
on the subject of the child and his develop¬ 
ment, as well as studied the child himself, 
and in so doing have adopted phrases and 
words which appealed especially to me as 
being worthy of consideration. 

I have used some of these, perhaps, in 
this book, but have forgotten the source 
from which they came. In so far as I 
could recall, when using them, that they 
were wordsl of another writer, I have 
placed them within quotation marks; 
and in that rather indefinite way have 
tried to give credit to the “unknown 
source” of that particular phraseology. 

Nellie E. Friend 


12 


THE S.O.S. CALL OF YOUTH 


Thou atom of the ages, 

Thou force among the forces, 

Out from the Source of Sources, 
Thou puzzler of the Sages, 

Back comes to me thy mimicry. 
This heart of mine beats on in thine. 
One life Divine— 

Thy destiny 
In me. 


Patterson DuBois. 








CHAPTER I 


WHAT IS THE MOST WONDERFUL AND 
PRECIOUS THING IN THIS WORLD? 

To begin with, what do we mean by 
‘ ‘ wonderful’ ’ ? “ Something which we can¬ 
not understand—something beyond our 
comprehension.” 

What do we mean by “precious”? 
“That which is very dear, which we fear 
may be taken away from us, knowing full 
well that nothing can take its place so far 
as we are concerned.” 

I shall now give my answer to the ques¬ 
tion “What is the most wonderful and pre¬ 
cious thing in this w^orld?” by asking you 
the same question in another form. 

Is there anything more wonderful or 
precious than “life” enclosed within the 
body of an infant? We know not from 
whence it comes and we wonder what is to 
be its achievement. 

To me all life is sacred and holy. 

The word “holy” means “set apart for 
sacred uses”; the word “sacred” means 
“especially dear to God.” Then, in ac¬ 
cord with my previous statement, if life 

15 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


is holy—sacred—we mean that “life” in 
itself is especially dear to God and should 
be set apart and used for His purposes. 

We all believe in some Power outside 
of and transcending ourselves. Some call 
it “force”; some, “spirit”; some, “the 
over-soul”; others call it “evolution.” 

That power which we each and everyone 
sense and feel, calling it by various names, 
is what I call “God.” He gives life and 
takes it unto Himself again. He loans it 
to this world for the purpose of expressing 
Himself to humanity. 

Human life being the highest form of 
life we know anything about, and the in¬ 
fant life being fresh from God,—I say 
“it” is the most wonderful and precious 
thing I have yet discovered; and the cu¬ 
rious thing is that the more I think about 
and study “the child” the more con¬ 
vinced I am of this truth. 

This is God’s world; made, controlled, 
and sustained by His forces. 

I believe “we” are placed here in a 
world belonging to God, to make it a king¬ 
dom of God. A world which shall see, 
feel, and become a very conscious part of 
God Himself. 

I believe that can and must be done—by 
us. 


16 



MOST WONDERFUL AND PRECIOUS THING 


Where shall we begin? Let ns consider 
what Jesus said. Why Jesus? Because 
we believe He was the “Word of God” 
personified; at least He has revealed to us 
more clearly than any other life—God; 
what He is, and what His purposes are, 
and that we, like Him, should personify 
God. “Be ye perfect even as your Father 
in Heaven is perfect.” 

Just as I may take a plant and say, 
“This is of the vegetable kingdom,” or a 
bird and say, “This is of the animal king¬ 
dom,” so Jesus took a little child and said, 
“Of such is the kingdom of God.” I be¬ 
lieve Him! Do you? If so, we are ac¬ 
knowledging our responsibility. 

Life, fresh and pure in an infant, is a 
product of the forces which are of God and 
is that out of which the Kingdom of God 
must be made. A child—not only a clean, 
attractive, white child—not only your child, 
but the child of Japan, France, Italy, 
Africa—Germany—a CHILD. 

Impossible? No! Jesus said, “The 
kingdom of God is within,” and what is 
within will come out, to what degree or in 
how short or long a period of time depends 
upon the conditions and forces touching 
that life and acting as stimuli. 


17 















Woe unto them that decree unrighteous de¬ 
crees and to the writers that write perverse¬ 
ness; to turn aside the needy from justice—and 
to rob the poor of my people of their right— 
that widows may be their spoil and that they 
may make the fatherless their prey! 

Isa. 10: 1, 2. 


Woe to thee that destroyest— 

and dealest treacherously! 
When thou hast ceased to destroy thou shalt be 
destroyed; and when thou hast made an end of 
dealing treacherously, they shall deal treacher¬ 
ously with thee. 

Isa. 33: 1. 

No, it isn’t the weakness of those who are weak 
That makes the world wretched and wrong; 

We shall some day discover the sinner we seek 
In the self-centered greed of the strong. 

Robert Whitaker. 







CHAPTER II 


WHAT IS THE MOST DANGEROUS THING 
IN THIS WORLD, AND WHY ? 

God has expressed Himself in many dif¬ 
ferent ways. Some discover Him in one 
place or in some particular form of life, 
others discover Him in quite another and 
different place or form. Many have never 
consciously discovered Him at all, a few 
find Him everywhere and in all life. As 
Jesus said, “Some have eyes and see 
not and some have ears and hear not.” 

The conclusion is that these varying ex¬ 
pressions of God, together, make a well- 
rounded and perfect whole. 

We all agree that human life, so far as 
we know, is the highest expression of God 
and His love. It is then obvious that hu¬ 
man life, to he a God-life, must be a well 
rounded life, in so far as we on this earth 
know what a well rounded life is. 

We all know that there are the physical, 

mental and spiritual sides of human life to 

be developed and that there are few hu- 

21 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


mans leaving this life who are developed 
proportionately on all three sides. 

If, as a child grows to be older, he does 
not grow physically, we say he is a dwarf. 
If he does not grow mentally, that he is de¬ 
ficient; if he does not grow spiritually (or 
morally, which is an outward expression 
of his religious or spiritual nature), that 
he is a degenerate. 

What kind of a personality shall we 
have, if he grows physically, and in no 
other way? 

We dare not think what it would mean to 
have an adult grown physically and men¬ 
tally, and not morally and spiritually. 
This is what I consider to be the 
most dangerous thing in this world—A 
HUMAN LIFE DEVELOPED PHYSI¬ 
CALLY AND MENTALLY AND NOT 
SPIRITUALLY OR MORALLY. Why? 
Good physical development means bodily 
vigor—strength; as far as the body is con¬ 
cerned, it is strength that wins out—the 
stronger one conquers, and has control 
over the weaker. 

A physically strong person may hurt a 
weaker one unintentionally, not realizing 
his strength; but when behind that phy¬ 
sique is a well trained mind, whose every 

22 


THE MOST DANGEROUS THING 


thought and motive in life is to use both 
bodily strength and intellect to exploit, 
abuse and get for selfish ends all in his 
power—I say “Beware!” 

Do you know, I believe we are develop¬ 
ing more human lives along these two sides, 
without anything but a passing thought of 
the third side, than we realize. The fact 
that we haven’t sensed it won’t help the 
situation to any degree. The fact that we 
as parents', teachers, or as mere individ¬ 
uals in God’s world, are too tired, too 
busy, too uninterested, too irresponsible, 
or too something else, isn’t going to help 
the situation in the least, except as, realiz¬ 
ing our “too something,” we wake up, get 
on to our jobs and make up for our lost 
time and that of the generations before 
us. 

Life is going on—it will not wait, and 
these thing hamper and deter the higher 
development of humanity. 

Physical and mental strength tvith a 
spiritual vision and a religious, unselfish 
purpose back of it is the strongest thing 
on this earth, and nothing can conquer or 
overcome it. Are the people of Germany 
convinced of the real reason why they 
failed? As individuals, I believe many of 

33 

■% 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


them are—the Kaiser and others, no! 
(At least, they have not, except perhaps 
inwardly, admitted it.) 

Have we learned our lesson from the 
same war? As a whole, no! But as in¬ 
dividuals, here and there, yes! Those of 
us who have not, will be forced to learn it 
—perhaps in some way which will be hard 
on those unfortunate enough to be weaker 
and more helpless, perhaps in some other 
terrible way. 

I want also to make this point: Every¬ 
thing which has life must grow; life in 
itself is constructive. 

I have in my hand a seed. Within that 
seed is life itself; that is, the power to 
grow into something larger and more 
beautiful. I say to myself, “That is slich 
a nice, clean, shiny, round seed, I mustn’t 
let anything happen to it,” so I put it into 
a bottle. What happens? It remains 
clean, shiny and round. 

I take another seed—place it in a proper 
environment, surround it with, conditions 
which will allow it to grow, and what 
happens? Very soon it begins to stretch 
out for more room, for new life, con¬ 
sequently it bursts its shell, sending 
feelers out here and there until it finds 
something upon which it can get a firm 

24 


THE MOST DANGEROUS THING 


hold.. Then up and up it grows, toward 
the light and sunshine which is God’s. 
Becoming sturdy in stalk and stem, it 
hursts forth into blossoms to cheer the 
path of some sorrowing or sin-sick soul; 
and having completed its mission it dies 
in blossom—perhaps in stem and stalk. 
Why? In order to serve. Every flower 
picked, sacrifices its life for the one for 
whom it was picked. The same powers or 
possibilities may be within the first seed 
as within the second, but of what real 
value unless I allow them to come out? 
In every department of life this law holds 
good—Everything and everybody, if sur¬ 
rounded by the right environment, grows 
up toward God. 

Again, life is constructive because pro¬ 
gressive. All life has to start at a begin¬ 
ning, developing the possibilities within it 
and growing to as near perfection as it 
is possible for it to become. 

We have perfect faith when we have a 
handful of pansy seeds that within each 
is the possibility and the probability of its 
becoming a pansy plant and of bearing 
pansy blossoms. But we also realize that 
(as in the former illustration) in order 
for it to develop, it must be placed under 
conditions in which God intended it should 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


be placed. We know if we hold the seeds 
in our hand or put them into a receptacle 
they will continue to be seeds. The same 
is true of the squash seed, holding within 
it the possibility of becoming a squash— 
of an apple seed becoming an apple tree 
and bearing apples. 

A child is a seed of the highest class of 
the animal race—the human being. 

Each one holds, more than we commonly 
recognize, possibilities so great and varied 
that he is indeed more than any other seed 
—sacred—holy. 

We feel that the human seed does not 
reach its perfection in this life—that the 
highest the human can attain or take from 
this life is ‘ ‘ character. ’ ’ 

Every element in or phase of life 
should be constructive and be used for con¬ 
structive ends. As the physical and 
mental sides of life are developed and used 
to build up life on every side, it is not 
only good, but good for something. When 
it is used to destroy any phase or element 
of life, it is destructive, and is not good— 
is dangerous—yes, perhaps fatal to other 
iife. 

When the spiritual or religious side of 
life is developed, one may feel fairly cer¬ 
tain that the physical and mental will not 

26 


THE MOST DANGEROUS THING 

be used for destructive ends—yet bow 
many developed thus, ARE NOT USED, 
TO ANY GREAT EXTENT, FOE CON¬ 
STRUCTIVE ENDS. 

Life must be well rounded, yes, but not 
merely that it may be good for God to 
look upon, but good for something. 

How often we hear this question ringing 
in our ears: 

“What have you done with your gifts— 
increased their value by serving other life 
and lives, or buried them for safe-keep¬ 
ing f ’ ’ 

Are you making your life and the lives 
of others dangerous to other life or are 
you so nourishing and developing life in 
yourself and in others that all coming in 
contact will bow their heads and say, 
“That was a ‘holy’ life, consecrated and 
set apart for God’s purposes?” 


27 








Oh God of little children, whom Thou on earth 
didst love, 

Look down today and bless them from heaven 
high above. 

Our orchards and our vineyards we till with 
zealous care, 

But child-plants, unprotected, are drooping 
everywhere. 

Oh God of little children, teach us to know their 
worth, 

Of such shall be Thy Kingdom in Heaven and 
on earth, 

And in the great world garden Thy laborers are 
we 

To guard and keep the blossoms for all eternity. 

Oh God of little children, we have no wealth 
beside, 

Teach us to seek and save them by effort nation¬ 
wide, 

To fight the foes that threaten, the weeds and 
pest and blight, 

For every child-plant growing is precious in 
Thy sight. 

Oh God of little children, Thy garden shall be 
tilled 

By us whose hearts are wakened, Thy prophe¬ 
cies fulfilled. 

The desert long neglected shall blossom as the 
rose, 

With health and hope of freedom for every 
child that grows. 

Molly Whitford Anderson in the Survey. 






























CHAPTER III 


HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE FOR THE 

WORLD ! 

Where shall we definitely commence to 
make the child safe for the world? 

I believe onr work should begin with 
the boy and girl in our midst who are in 
the early adolescent period—from twelve 
to sixteen years of age—in some cases 
earlier, the particular age depending upon 
the individual boy or girl. 

At that age they are becoming interested 
in the opposite sex. During these years, 
they should, either in the home or church- 
school (preferably in the home), be given 
sympathetic information in regard to their 
physical and emotional natures, and have 
held up before them continually the 
sacredness and purpose of this develop¬ 
ment which is being manifested in them as 
v T ell as to them, the sacredness of father¬ 
hood and motherhood. This will, I be¬ 
lieve, naturally lead the girl and boy to 
have proper respect for his or her body, 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


as well as for the body of the opposite sex. 
This respect will naturally lead to the 
chivalrous attitude of the boy towards the 
girl, and the desire, on the part of the girl, 
to dress, act and be that which the boy 
shall respect and admire. 

Then, when the fifteenth or sixteenth 
year is reached, the age wiien the sexes 
are naturally attracted to each other, it 
will not only, nor chiefly, be so much a 
physical attraction, as the attraction of a 
boy or girl with high ideals towards his 
or her ideal. 

The physical development and attrac¬ 
tions at this age are God-given and God- 
intended in order that the world may 
grow; but if we are able to control their 
ideas of what a girl is and should be up to 
the highest standard (that of the sacred 
motherhood of the world), we shall, to a 
degree, avoid the disrespect of the boy for 
the girl, the girl for herself, and therefore 
the 4 ‘wild-oats’’ stage. 

This is easier said than done—depend¬ 
ing upon the nature of the boy or girl, I 
admit, but we have in this previous train¬ 
ing supposedly taught the heroism of self- 
control. They are now at the age when, 
knowing and feeling what their relation¬ 
ship should be toward one another, they 

82 


HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE 


choose to act accordingly. I have pre¬ 
viously said we must give them sympa¬ 
thetic information. We must now be even 
more sympathetic than before—making 
them feel that we understand how easily 
and unintentionally one may lose the fight 
between the physical or animal in their 
natures and the intellectual, moral and 
spiritual side of their natures—between 
the lower self and the better and best self. 
We must show them the heroism, the man¬ 
liness and womanliness of it—the self- 
satisfaction and self-respect in controlling 
the lower impulses, and create a disgust 
for any lower form of relationship. 

Encourage their courtships and love- 
making. Make it possible for them to 
have their social intercourse in the open. 
It is because we look upon these relations 
with indifference, suspicion, or with mere 
toleration that we drive them out into 
the dark. All through these years we 
must not only be sympathetic, but show 
sympathy, more sympathy, a sympathetic 
interest, remembering it is just as natural 
for the boy and girl to be attracted to one 
another and mate as for the birds and 
animals—yes—just as natural as it was 
for you and me. 

Now they marry and then the most won- 

33 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


derful thing in the world happens—I hope. 
She is to become a mother! A girl who 
has had this previous instruction and 
sympathy now understands and, under 
normal conditions, rejoices that (rod is 
working through her. 

What has my talk about this young man 
or woman got to do with making the child 
safe for the world ? We are beginning to 
see that our responsibility to the child does 
not begin with his birth into this world. 

Every child coming into this world is 
partly developed physically and has, 
not only wonderful possibilities within 
him, but tendencies or instincts which are 
his inheritance—partly from the race as 
a whole and partly from his immediate 
ancestors; therefore, when he comes into 
this world, he is, I believe, more than we 
commonly recognize, equipped for life. 
Our job is not only after he comes into 
this world to nurture, protect, and improve 
the equipment, but with these young 
mothers and fathers, while in their teen 
ages, to help to pave the way with definite, 
constructive and reverential teaching, that 
they may not only want to be, but will make 
themselves worthy of God’s sacred trust 
in them. These high desires, ambitions, 
incentives, and longings will be part of the 

34 



HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE 


equipment with which the new little life 
may start. One can hardly sense the real 
worth of such equipment with which to 
“start’’ a life. 

Let us remind ourselves that lower 
ambitions, desires, incentives and longings 
of the mother and father are also born into 
that new life. 

Recognizing that fact is not enough un¬ 
less we help to make it the purpose of 
these young lives that they do or think 
nothing which will handicap the other 
lives for whom God may later make them 
responsible. 

Now we have before us, in thought, the 
new born babe—with all of his handicaps, 
high, lower and natural tendencies, and 
with all his possibilities. How make him 
safe for the world? Let me say in passing, 
that personally I consider that a child 
born into an atmosphere of great wealth 
may be in some respects more surely 
handicapped than one born into an atmos¬ 
phere of poverty. 

In either case, the responsibility of us 
on the outside, as well as that of the par¬ 
ents, is great, to see to it that that life 
is made safe and not a menace to this 
world. 

Because life is so complex in itself and 

35 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


because there are so many things involved, 
I must of necessity leave the child (in my 
talk) and go out into the byways—but you 
will find me, if you are patient, always 
leading back to the child and God—their 
relationships to one another and their 
Relationships to this world in which we 
live. 

Every human soul sent into this world 
is enclosed within that little casket which 
we call the body. When that soul goes 
back to its Maker or to another existence, 
it leaves behind that body—but has en¬ 
closed within its ; elf that precious jewel, 
character. Character is the only thing the 
soul can take with it from this life and is 
the result of the desires, choices, resolu¬ 
tions, aspirations and habits which have 
controlled that life. Therefore I am going 
to deal now with those things which 
develop soul and character, because other¬ 
wise this babe will not be made safe for 
this world. 

Before I say another word, I bow my 
head in all humility because I realize I am 
approaching, in thought, holy ground; 
therefore, what I say is merely to stimulate 
thought along these lines in your mind 
that, as the years go by, the child and youth 
may benefit thereby. 

36 


HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE 


From the time the infant comes into 
this world until he leaves it, I care not how 
old or young—he wants something. We 
must curb, direct, help supply and satisfy 
“wants.” They are God-given. 

While “longing” is a milder expression, 
perhaps, than “want,” they mean practi¬ 
cally the same—“the feeling of the need 
of something which is necessary or desir¬ 
able”; so I shall often use the word 
“longing” because, to my mind, what life 
wants or longs for, it reaches out for. 

Immediately after the child comes into 
the world, he makes his longings known: 
he wants something to eat—he wants to be 
warm—in other words, he wants to be 
made comfortable. 

Up through the years this longing con¬ 
tinues. How far shall we satisfy it? 
When curb and direct it? 

To begin with, we must satisfy it—since 
the first thing of importance is for that 
equipped life to make and develop a 
“self.” Nature demands that we make, 
first, a physically fit self. This fitness 
varies and changes its form as the years 
go by, but there is a peculiar fitness re¬ 
quired at certain stages of the develop¬ 
ment. 

Each and every infant has the right to 

37 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


have nourishing food. (A soul cannot 
easily, if at all, be developed in an under¬ 
nourished body.) I might insert here that 
I know of no greater contribution you and 
I can make than to pay for “certified milk” 
or any other food necessary, to be left 
daily at homes where, otherwise, the infant 
cannot have proper food. 

We should curb this particular longing 
for comfort when it tends to injure self 
and should direct it when the child is old 
enough to be directed, which is at a much 
younger age than some of us imagine. 
Our inclination is to keep curbing rather 
than directing. 

When these longings tend to become 
“self”-ish, it is then that one of the God- 
given tendencies, if not directed, may be 
one means of making this life unsafe for 
the world; viz., comfort at the expense of 
others, or desire for comfort with no 
thought of others. We are members, one 
of another, in this world at least. “No 
man liveth unto himself and no man dieth 
unto himself.” 

Each life has this lesson to learn. Be¬ 
fore he is old enough to grasp it, we must 
direct his longings in the light of it, that 
he may the sooner discover it for himself. 

The younger this directing takes place, 

38 


HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE 


and the more vigilant and insistent we are 
in it, the earlier will he discover its im¬ 
portance and truth, hence—more real com¬ 
fort in life for him and more comfort for 
those with whom he comes in contact as the 
years go by. 

I have said we must satisfy, curb, and 
direct longings or wants. Yes, more— 
we must inspire or stimulate longings 
which shall be inclusive rather than exclu¬ 
sive and personal. In other words', we 
must, in our directing, as we lead children 
(into boyhood and girlhood), teach them to 
think, act and be their happiest when they 
think and act in terms of “we”—“us”— 
“you and me”—rather than “me” and 
t “mine.” This is the most important after 
all—for why develop a self? The only le¬ 
gitimate reason I can give is, that each 
self may develop a soul. That is not done 
by “getting” alone, but by “giving” 
freely of what we get. 

“He that saveth his own life shall lose 
it, but he that loseth his life (if need be) 
for my sake shall find it,” and that more 
•abundantly than he had hoped for. 

We must use these God-given longings 
and natural God-like tendencies to develop 
a life that shall grow and expand first, 
“through inclusive thinking (including 

39 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


others), unselfish acting (considering 
others), and helpful service (serving and 
helping to develop others).” 

Do you see as I do, how meeting the 
physical wants or longings of the infant 
up through childhood not only aids physi¬ 
cal growth and development but has a 
bearing, and that a fundamental one, on 
the mental, moral, and religious develop¬ 
ment which means the recognition of what 
his relationship with and his attitude to¬ 
wards others should be, and to be his 
happiest when acting accordingly? 

The infant squirms and wiggles; the 
little child, if normal, is very active, in 
order that his physical body shall develop 
as well as grow. 

This activity is God-given and should 
not be repressed but directed as the child 
grows older. Directed activity by the 
laws of God develops into energy, and 
directed and utilized energy into power, 
whether in a steam-boiler or in a human 
being—and it is directed power that spells 
achievement. 

You will, perhaps, recall how in a pre¬ 
vious chapter I said “I believe power in 
itself may be dangerous.” 

If you agree .with, me, you will see the 
danger to the individual development of 

40 


HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE 


repressing the natural activity, and the 
danger to the development of the individ¬ 
ual and the world of not directing it into 
helpful and constructive forms of expres¬ 
sion, until such time as the individual 
learns the significance and truth of this 
need. Then we hope he will “choose” to 
use his energy and power for achieving 
those things which shall stand as monu¬ 
ments of his living. 

Only in early childhood is the child 
merely active. As soon as boyhood and 
girlhood approaches, he acts for certain 
ends or results. As early as that does he 
choose “ends,” therefore he aims at those 
ends. 

If we wish him, in later years, to choose 
to achieve those things which shall be 
monumental, we must direct his activity 
by making desirable and attractive those 
things which shall serve as foundation 
stones for the monument. 

Jesus said “Feed my lambs”—-yes, but 
“He wants us to use as much common 
sense with human lambs as woolly lambs” 
—not only to feed them but exercise them. 
As we suggest and make attractive “ends” 
for their activity which can be utilized in 
a safe and constructive way, we must give 
them every opportunity for considerable 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


exercise and practice, as it is not only 
directed but utilized activity which de¬ 
velops energy, and exercised energy that 
becomes a power. 

How inseparably connected and inter¬ 
woven are the different phases of life as 
expressed in and through a human being! 
We have been concentrating our attention 
for the moment on the physical wants of 
the child as he grows up through the years, 
yet we are reminded that this is but one 
medium through which life is expressed 
and developed. So while speaking of 
physical development I have been com¬ 
pelled to suggest mental reactions, since 
one automatically reacts on the other. 

Not only does the child want to be fed 
and kept warm and comfortable, but just 
as soon as he discovers other persons or 
things outside of himself, he begins to 
develop another “want.” He wants to 
know. 

Again we must satisfy that God-given 
tendency and supply food which shall 
nourish and broaden his mentality. Why 
should we satisfy this particular phase 
of r ‘Wants”? In its primitive form, we 
call it curiosity. The little child is curious 
and attends to bright lights, bright colors, 
new faces, noises, unusual sounds, moving 

42 


HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE 


things. They attract his attention, though 
no one thing holds it very long, since not 
until boyhood and girlhood is the power 
of attention sustained. 

Later, when this child finds there is a 
world outside of his home, it is the things 
of nature, trees, stars, rain, snow and 
animals, which excite his curiosity. As 
soon as he goes to school, his circle of 
things he wants to know about widens. 

When this God-given desire to know 
subsides, the mental side of his develop¬ 
ment is checked or at least is retarded. 
Alas, how many of God’s older children 
have ceased to want to know about any¬ 
thing that means effort! 

Should this desire or longing to know 
always be satisfied! Personally, I believe 
it should, UNLESS IT TENDS TO IN¬ 
JURE INSTEAD OF DEVELOP “A 
SELF,” or when the desired information 
has a tendency to INJURE OR MAKE 
UNCOMFORTABLE OTHERS OUT¬ 
SIDE OF SELF. 

When a mind has become active enough 
to want to know about a thing, it will seek 
a way to be satisfied, and if you do not 
satisfy that need, he will go elsewhere— 
perhaps not immediately, but nevertheless 
surely. The sources through which that 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


curiosity is satisfied may be not reliable. 
They may be perverted or utterly mis¬ 
leading. Incorrect information is danger¬ 
ous food, especially for a growing and in¬ 
experienced mentality. If you cannot 
satisfy that curiosity, it will be no disgrace 
to say that you do not know, but that you 
will look it up, or to send the inquirer to 
a reliable informer, be it a person, book 
or otherwise. 

Have you ever seen men make cement? 
A little twig or leaf dropped on it, even 
though removed, will leave its impression. 

As I was playing my Victrola the other 
day I closed my eyes that I might the more 
enjoy it. It was a record of a violin solo 
by a noted artist. 

When it was finished I said, 4 4 What a 
perfect record!” Then I said to myself, 
“The man who rendered that solo played 
it perfectly, else the reproduction would 
not be so perfect. ” 

I went back in thought to the time when 
the Edison Phonograph first came into 
existence. 

I was playing in Tilton, N. H., and was 
being entertained by a Mrs. Tilton. She 
said, “Nellie, I enjoyed your solo so much 
last night that I would like to have you 

play into my phonograph, that I may re- 

44 


HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE 


produce it to my friends after you are gone 
home. ” So I played, and being nervous 
and over-anxious did not do my best, but 
the impression was taken on a wax record, 
which was afterwards reproduced on the 
Graphophone. I noticed every slurred 
and wrong note that I had struck in the 
reproduction, but it could not be changed. 
What I had played left its impression on 
the record which was reproduced just as 
received. 

A child’s mind is a great deal like that 
wax or gelatine record. Everything which 
goes through the eye gate or ear gate 
leaves its impression on his mind and he 
reproduces those impressions in life. 

A child is the most precious jewel God 
has given us. If we have diamonds or 
other jewels we are pretty careful not to 
leave them lying around where harm can 
come to them, and yet we do not, as we 
should, protect our children in the homes 
or community by watching, and censoring 
the reading, pictures, and entertainments, 
—those things which enter their minds 
through the eye and ear gates. 

The child wants pleasure and satisfac¬ 
tion. Everything calls to him—the desir¬ 
able, the less desirable, and perhaps the 
undesirable things. Can’t we make the 

45 



THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


desirable, constructive and higher things 
enjoyable and entertaining for them? We 
can, if our desire is strong enough to have 
later, perfect records. Beproduce they 
will—it is a law of life. What shall we 
have them reproduce? 

It is said that the tail of a tadpole drops 
off before his legs grow. There have been 
experiments made by cutting off the tail 
to see if the legs would grow more quickly, 
only to find that the legs would not grow 
at all. So now they realize that it is an 
absolute necessity that the tail be left on, 
since in some natural way, as it is ab¬ 
sorbed, the legs grow; proving that unless 
the lower faculties of the tadpole have been 
developed, the higher ones will not grow. 

The same is true of the human mind. 
In proportion as we train the senses, emo¬ 
tions and all the lower faculties will the 
reasoning power, judgment and higher 
powers develop. 

The mind receives the material with 
which it is to work and develop primarily 
through the senses—seeing, hearing, smell¬ 
ing, tasting and feeling, as well as by the 
more complex of sensations such as pain, 
pleasure. 

The mental, as well as the physical side, 
should have clean, wholesome, nourishing 

46 


HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE 


food which can not only “satisfy’’ but 
direct and stimulate its activity—since it 
is directed and exercised mental activity 
that develops intellectual strength and 
power. 

You see we must work with nature and 
go step by step, feeding, directing and stim¬ 
ulating first the physical self, since the 
physical body must be built up. It is, in¬ 
deed, the temple within which the intel¬ 
lectual, moral and spiritual self is to 
dwell. 

The danger is in building the temple and 
then having an undesirable tenant dwell 
within as suggested in the previous 
chapter. 

Nature, wonderful nature, causes a ces¬ 
sation of rapid growth of body, while al¬ 
lowing it to gain in strength and energy, 
and causes the mentality to awaken and 
to seek for growth. Later, in adolescence, 
the physical body again grows by leaps 
and bounds, while the mentality, instead 
of seeking aimlessly for food, concentrates, 
digests and begins to appreciate the 
strength it may gain. Isn’t “life”—its 
origin, its growth and expansion, its dif¬ 
ferent and differing ways of seeking for 
food and forms of expression—the most 
wonderful thing you know about? 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


God is in life, through life —is life, I 
feel reasonably sure. The thing for you 
and me to do is to so train ourselves that 
we may see Him, feel Him and draw Him 
to the surface of life; in the meantime 
helping the child growing into young man¬ 
hood and womanhood to be conscious of 
the God within himself which we have 
seen, felt and helped develop. 

Again, how inseparably connected and 
interwoven are the physical, mental and 
moral sides of life. 

If you will reflect on what you have read 
in the previous chapters, you will find 
practically a useless physical and mental 
development suggested, when the moral 
side is left out. 

What is morality! It is the “ought- 
ness” of things. Since we live in a world 
with others, upon whom we are absolutely 
dependent, there are certain things we 
should do, certain attitudes and feelings 
we should have as a reasonable return. 
Again, God working through humans, mak¬ 
ing them see those things, has caused them 
to set up certain 1 ‘ standards’’ of morality. 
Public opinion has made laws which cause 
those who, while they accept them, yet do 
not always conform to them, to conform 
or be punished. In the home, school and 

48 


HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE 


community, those who have the wider 
knowledge, experience and vision set up 
laws which they cause to be obeyed, in 
order that those concerned may each grow, 
be happy, expand and develop as he should, 
and not do so at the expense of the health, 
comfort or opportunities of the other 
members. 

It is when we do those things, not be¬ 
cause it is the law but because it is in it¬ 
self the right thing to do—it is when, 
where there is no law in regard to the 
action, but because we believe it to be a 
just, reasonable, and brotherly thing to do, 
that in the doing of it we show our moral 
development. 

It is well to conform to law, but it is 
better not to let the law “limit” our forms 
of moral expression—better to accept and 
religiously live up to the law given by 
Jesus two thousand years ago: 

“Do unto others as ye would that others should do 
unto you.” 

To be able to do this, is a matter of 
development. 

The little child in trying to satisfy his 
wants, knows no law outside of himself. 
If he wants company when he is put to 
bed, he cries for it. If his crying brings 

49 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


Mother or some one, he cries the next time 
and the next. Much depends upon how 
you answer that first cry. If the little one 
burns his finger, he is very careful not to 
intentionally go near that hot place again. 
When what he wants brings satisfaction 
or pleasure, his law is to do the thing 
again. If an act brings displeasure or 
pain, he is not so likely to repeat it. 

As the child grows to be older, 4 ‘ regu¬ 
larity and order’’ become law to him, 
viz:—if a child is put to bed each night or 
in the middle of the day at a certain time, 
day in and day out, he soon learns not to 
question or rebel, in fact he looks for and 
expects it; if he has his meals regularly 
and systematically, he soon senses and 
enters into the routine and it becomes a 
law for his later life, under normal con¬ 
ditions. Irregularity, confusion, and dis¬ 
order act exactly in the opposite way. 
Personally, I believe it may be a criminal 
offense against that life, for you or me to 
ignore this natural reaction which we may 
perhaps develop with a very little extra 
care. 

For example—a child naturally feels 
that everything has a purpose behind it. 
Wlten anything is done he says “Why?” 

50 



HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE 


If yon tell him a certain thing he asks 
“Why!” 

If he can eat green apples or pork chops 
without having a stomach ache—if he can 
stay up late at night again and again and 
not be shown that his health will be im¬ 
paired—if he thinks he can neglect cleaning 
his teeth and yet have nice white teeth and 
good digestion—in other words, unless he 
is made to see that if he disobeys or 
ignores the laws of the body he cannot 
have a healthy and clean body he will not 
be so likely to learn the law of 1 ‘ cause and 
effect.” 

This is a world of cause and effect— 
certain acts performed or left undone are 
bound to bring certain results. Results 
are because of what has or has not been 
done. Until the child is old enough to see 
these things for himself, we can, in the 
light of what we know to be true, train 
him to acquire habits of orderly acting and 
thinking—customs which need not be dis¬ 
turbed or unlearned when he comes to the 
age of reasoning. 

Through the planting of seeds and the 
hearing of nature stories he soon learns 
that he must obey certain laws else nature 
will not be as likely to work for him. 

51 



THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


In this way, also, a child soon feels that 
if he disobeys he brings punishment or dis¬ 
appointment upon himself—that it is not 
inflicted by any one, parent, teacher or God. 

Two little girls had been quarreling. 
One mother said “You mustn’t play with 
that girl any more. She’s a naughty 
girl.” The other mother said “If you 
had been kind and agreeable there would 
not have been any quarrel.” Which 
mother is playing fair with her child? 

How can we hope to develop an orderly 
thinker, one who will conform to order 
and harmony, if in his infancy and early 
boyhood and girlhood he lives amidst dis¬ 
order, confusion, irregularity (no set time 
or place for anything), and inharmonious 
wrangling and arguing? He may develop 
in spite of these conditions, but we take the 
chance of his developing into the unsafe 
person. 

The child has no sense of what is meant 
by morality, but, as I have said, his law 
in infancy is to do again what previously 
brought the desired end, and to gradually 
cease doing or wanting that which has 
brought pain, discomfort or dissatisfac¬ 
tion. Later, regularity and order become 
habitual or vice versa, and he does, from 
force of habit, those things which have 

52 


HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE 


been required of him. Later in boyhood 
and girlhood, yes, sometimes in early child¬ 
hood, his law is to do what he has to do—■ 
and that, when he has to do it, for fear 
of punishment or because of some pleasing 
reward, but as his social circle widens and 
he becomes the gang age, it is the law of 
the gang, or the group, which takes pre¬ 
cedence above everything and everybody 
else. 

Whatever the boys “say” is all right— 
whatever the girls say is style or other¬ 
wise, is accepted or tabooed. Mother, 
father or teacher is “not in it” unless wise 
enough to have previously taken advan¬ 
tage of the gang instinct and organized or 
directed a group whose standards shall be 
pleasing and attractive, yet “safe for the 
world.” 

Gradually through the training men¬ 
tioned in preceding words, the young man 
and woman learn to respect and then to 
conform to civic, natural and moral laws; 
in other words, they gradually, if properly 
informed, directed, and trained, adapt and 
adjust themselves to their environment 
and to the world of which they discover 
they are a part. 

I said “gradually” they learn to adapt 
and adjust themselves. I have used that 

53 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


word advisedly, for almost out of a clear 
sky, while quoting the say-so of the group, 
a new standard is accepted by the youth— 
that which is set up by or approved of by 
some person whom he considers an ideal 
—a person to whom he looks up. 

If that ideal be a safe person, society has 
not much to fear, but if not, a well-directed 
youth may become a menace to the world, 
even at that late day. If in the previous 
years “principles’’ have been inculcated 
so that the youth has learned the law of 
cause and effect, and his natural God-like 
tendencies have been so developed that 
naturally he cannot accept anything for an 
ideal that is not ideal, while he may inves¬ 
tigate and hesitate, he will not falter, but 
go resolutely on in the way he should go. 

In other words, each and every person is 
controlled by inner forces, though depend¬ 
ent upon outer influences which affect 
them. While outer influences are neces¬ 
sary, the form in which they will make an 
appeal, if at all, will depend upon the inner 
forces—for example, a rock and the plant 
beside it both have the same environment, 
but the result of its influence upon either 
depends upon the inner forces controlling 
each—so again I hope I have made it clear 
to the readers, why I believe that by the 

54 


HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE 


satisfying, directing and curbing of physi¬ 
cal and mental wants, from infancy up, the 
fibre of the moral side of the child’s de¬ 
velopment is being woven, either true to 
the pattern set up on the loom of life, or 
with stitches misplaced or dropped. 

In another part of this chapter I have 
said ‘ 4 Every human soul sent into this 
world is enclosed within that little casket, 
the body.” 

What do I mean by “soul”? When a 
person dies, we mean that his “soul” has 
left that body and gone back to its Maker 
or to another existence. What do we 
mean by “soul”? Did you ever look into 
the open, fathomless eyes of a little babe? 
What did you see? Did you seel No! 
You felt a something which you could not 
express—a sense of awe, reverence, wor¬ 
ship had possessed you for the time be¬ 
ing—only for a moment, I’ll admit. Your 
soul felt the appeal and reached out to the 
newly born, pure, sweet, unmarred soul! 

That purity and sweetness drew the pur¬ 
ity and sweetness out from you, so that 
you felt it and succumbed to its influence 
for the moment. Soul touching soul! 
How much more quickly our souls respond 
to the soul fresh from God than to one of 
maturer years! What is love? Soul re- 



THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


sponding to soul! What is faith? Soul 
believing in, having confidence in another 
soul. What is hope? Soul looking for¬ 
ward or reaching out to another soul! 
Why, after one of our dear ones has been 
laid away, do we mourn? Because our 
soul hungers and thirsts for the compan¬ 
ionship of that soul which has gone be¬ 
yond our physical reach; but what sus¬ 
tains us as the years go by? That soul 
which we cannot see embodied, but which 
we feel with a nearness, sweetness and 
dearness far exceeding that which we felt 
while it was in human form. Soul touch¬ 
ing soul! 

What is. “soul”? 

Is it not that something within life which 
we cannot see or define, but which we sense 
and cling to, a something which we often 
try to ignore and starve both in ourselves 
and in others; but which at times does get 
the best of us—in our highest moments? 

What is “soul”? It must be spirit. 
Jesus said “God is spirit.” Is “soul” 
God? I believe, to say the least, that it is 
the spiritual element which is sent out, sus¬ 
tained, stimulated, and recalled or with¬ 
drawn, perhaps redirected, by the Over 
Spirit, or Over Soul, in other words, by 
God himself. Before you is a pile of sand, 

56 


HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE 


Take in yonr hand one grain from that 
pile. What is it? Sand! Just so, I be¬ 
lieve one “soul” sent from the Over Soul 
may be “God,” “alike in essence, differ¬ 
ing in degree.” 

Just as the babe has the physical pos¬ 
sibility of becoming perfect physically, if 
properly nurtured and cared for, or the 
mental possibility of intellectual soundness 
of mind, so he has the soul or spiritual 
possibility of becoming a God-man—and 
further, just as he with his physical 
strength may protect and help those physi¬ 
cally weaker, or with his mental strength 
may enlighten and brighten the paths of 
those needing intellectual help, so with his 
soul or spiritual strength he may save 
from starvation or the hardening process, 
the souls of other men. Are we not, too, 
in danger of forgetting that by so doing he 
strengthens and keeps alive his own soul, 
because just as directed and utilized 
physical or mental activity develops power 
and achievement, so directed and utilized 
soul activity develops soul power and 
achievement. Jesus could not have been 
misleading in His statement when He said, 
“Be ye perfect, even as your Father in 
Heaven is perfect. ” No! He had achieved 
that “soul knowledge.” He would not 

57 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


have suggested to us impossibilities. That 
is why He was such a Great Teacher. 
What He saw He knew others could see, 
so He said 4 ‘Follow me”—“Believe!” 
It is because of His soul achievement that 
His influence is today, 2000 years after 
His physical body was laid away, one of 
the strongest things on this earth. 

Before we may hope to help develop 
the spiritual side of the child, we must first 
believe he has spiritual possibilities; 
secondly, we must believe it to be as crimi¬ 
nal to starve his soul as his body. If his 
body is starved the avenues for soul ex¬ 
pression will be lacking; if his soul is 
starved of what use will his bodv be? IT 
WILL BE A MENACE TO THE 
WORLD. ! 

All psychologists and broad thinkers 
have come to appreciate the fact that 
Jesus, the one great teacher, in under¬ 
standing God and His own possibilities 
and responsibilities came to understand 
the child. Because He said “Except as ye 
become as a little child, ye cannot enter 
the Kingdom of Heaven.” 

The old belief that every child born into 
this world was naturally a sinner and that 
the work of the church was to go out and 
reform that person when he got to a cer- 

58 


HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE 


tain age, by having him confess his sins, 
repent of them, and become converted, has 
lost its attraction, because while there is an 
element of truth in such a belief, it is not 
the whole truth. 

We realize now, the bigger and more 
hopeful truth, which is that every child 
is naturally religious. What do I mean 
by “religious”? 

Personally, I believe one can be religious 
and not have a religion, or at least a 
defined one. This is true of the child. 
Religion, to me, is made up of the things 
which the soul believes in, has faith in, 
hopes for; it is the result of the longing or 
reaching out of the God in man to the God 
in nature, to the God in other people, to 
the God in the physically unseen. 

Earlier in this chapter, I spoke of the 
physical longings and the mental longings 
(the desire to know); now let us consider 
the spiritual or soul longings of the child. 
It is because he has these soul longings 
that we say he is naturally religious— 
and it is because these longings are stim¬ 
ulated, that later one comes to have a 
religion—whether acknowledged or not— 
preceded alas, how often, by a period of 
doubt and skepticism. 

Long before he knows what he is eating, 

59 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


he wants to eat. Long before he knows 
what keeps him warm, he wants to be 
warm. Long before he knows of what 
value knowledge is—he wants to know. 
Long before he senses what he needs and 
should have or do, he has longings—ten¬ 
dencies. They are God-given because, in 
the satisfying of them, development takes 
place. 

There is no exception on the spiritual 
side. Long before the child knows what 
religion is, he believes in everybody and 
everything. What a shame that he has to 
disbelieve later on! It was not God- 
intended that he should! 

Long before he knows that love and 
kindness are God-like, he likes to be loved 
and does love. He is inclined to be kind, 
until he is told or influenced to be other¬ 
wise. How all the things of God call to 
him—the woods, flowers, water, animals, 
other children. “Who put the stars in 
the sky?” “What makes it rain?” 
“Where does the snow come from?” 
“Who makes the grass and flowers grow?” 
All these questionings are the outward 
manifestations of soul hunger, that inner 
longing to understand the unseen, the un¬ 
known, and nothing brings the smile of 

contentment and satisfaction as this 

60 


HOW MAKE THE CHILD SAFE 


childish comprehension of the things of 
the great outdoors. 

Through his natural love of nature, we 
can lead him step by step to God. By ex¬ 
plaining seed-time and harvest, and by 
giving him an opportunity of planting 
seeds and watching them grow, he will 
come to see the need for obeying the laws 
of nature, and when he sees the justness 
and fairness of God through nature, he 
will respect Him at least. One must first 
respect before he can truly love one whom 
he hath seen—the same is true of God, 
whom he hath not seen. 

It is when he has been led to discover 
God in and through all life; it is when he 
discovers and feels that impelling force 
within himself, causing him to feel, if not 
say, “I must be about my Father’s busi¬ 
ness,” that he comes to love, honor, and 
obey God. It is then, when his soul has 
achieved to the “personal touch with God” 
—when he feels he must work with God 
as well as for Him—that he bows) his head 
and worships God, whether in nature, 
within himself or in others. 

Just as we direct and compel the eating 
of certain foods and the taking of proper 
exercise until the child is old enough to 

use judgment; as we supply certain bits 

61 




THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


of knowledge to be given until some line 
of vocation is chosen; so we must persist¬ 
ently satisfy, and inspire, the spiritual 
side, until he comes to see and feel those 
things unseen and unknown by those not 
spiritually developed. 

It is through those things which we can¬ 
not see, but which we sense and appreciate, 
that we are drawn up to the full stature 
of a man of God. 

This world is not only going to be safe, 
but will be more like Heaven when every 
child growing up into manhood and wom¬ 
anhood is not only properly developed 
physically, mentally, and morally, but with 
his soul so nurtured and developed that he, 
with spiritual insight, and a spiritual 
quickening toward his brother man and all 
life, will be able to make a real contribu¬ 
tion not only for today, but for eternity. 

“Oh God of little children, Thy garden shall be tilled, 
By us whose hearts are wakened, Thy prophecies ful¬ 
filled. 

The desert long neglected shall blossom as the rose 
With health and hope and freedom for every child 
that grows.” 


62 


Hail the glorious golden city 
Pictured by the seers of old: 
Everlasting light shines o’er it, 
Wondrous things of it are told. 

Only righteous men and women 
Dwell within its gleaming wall; 

Wrong is banished from its borders 
Justice reigns supreme o’er all. 

We are builders of that city, 

All our joys and all our groans 
Help to rear its shining ramparts; 

All our lives are building stones. 
Whether humble or exalted, 

All are called to task divine; 

All must aid alike to carry 
Forward one sublime design. 

Selected from “The Ideal Republic’ 

by Felix Adler. 

The things that haven’t been done before 
Are the tasks worth while today. 

Are you one of the flock that follows, or 
Are you one that shall lead the way? 

Are you one of the timid souls that quail 
At the jeers of a doubting crew? 

Or dare you, whether you win or fail, 
Strike out for a goal that’s new? 

Gu Edgar. 










CHAPTER IV 


HOW MAKE THE WORLD SAFE FOR THE 

CHILD f 

No question is being asked more often 
and by people of varied position and 
thought, than this one, “How make the 
world safe for those coming after us?” 

It certainly is a very hopeful sign to 
find the “child in the midst” of those with 
thoughtful and progressive minds. These 
minds moreover are not patronizingly 
talking down to the child, but are trying to 
learn from him his real needs, and as a 
consequence are amazed when they realize 
not only his wonderful possibilities, but 
also his “probabilities” unless some things 
in this present world of ours are changed. 

No one person is living who could have 
come in close enough touch with every 
phase of the world’s work to speak in¬ 
telligently on each; but I believe any one, 
with a thoughtful and “desirous to help” 
mind, can at least get behind and push 
some ball already rolling in the right 
direction—and there are many. 

65 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


Where can you commence to make the 
world safe for the child? In your own 
particular world. When can you com¬ 
mence? There is no time like the present 
—for the past is gone and you know not 
whether there is any future, or what it 
may hold for you. 

We live not only in a Universal World, 
shared and enjoyed by each, but we each 
live in our own individual world and we 
make or mar, dwarf or enlarge, and make 
heaven or hell of it. Our world is largely 
made up of thought—so first, in thought, 
we must consider this question seriously 
and then resolutely take some definite step 
which shall be a forward one for the child. 

I hope I have made you feel more cer¬ 
tain than ever before that it is the Divine 
Plan that each and every child of God 
shall have opportunity for development 
and growth, equally on the physical, 
mental, moral and spiritual sides. He 
has left each of us free to choose the part 
which we shall play in His plan, but I be¬ 
lieve all are required to choose some part. 

The child, while living in a world of 

Universals, does not see beyond his own 

little circle, which widens and shapes up 

as his experience and social relationships 

change. Ignorant, innocent, helpless to 

66 


HOW MAKE THE WORLD SAFE 


control what shall touch his life and affect 
it—nevertheless, everything which enters 
his eye-gate or ear-gate leaves its impres¬ 
sion, and he reproduces in life what these 
impressions are. 

4 ‘What a solemn thing it is for us to 
allow a child to see or hear, in the home, 
school or community, anything which we 
are not willing for him to re-enact in his 
own life. Let us not say a word or do an 
act that we would not be willing for a child 
of God to imitate, for a child does not set 
one course of action over against another, 
and deliberately choose between them, as 
he has not yet developed the power to 
check or direct impulses” and when he 
reaches the age when he can, because of 
lack of experience his choices are often not 
the best. 

I have, in the preceding chapter, touched 
upon many things in the child’s develop¬ 
ment which must be met in the home and 
by those coming in close contact with him. 
I shall now try to speak of things which, 
in the larger world, of which we all are a 
part, touch children in general. 

We live in many worlds, the physical 
world, industrial world, musical world, 
business world, political world, profes¬ 
sional world, and what we call the under- 

67 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


world. These are all material forces at 
work, whose influence permeates even the 
home, safely guarded as it may be, and 
every unclean or harmful practice elimi¬ 
nated therefrom makes the world safer for 
the child. 

There are occult forces, many of which 
affect us but of which we are not yet aware, 
or at least familiar enough with to adjust 
ourselves to. There are also the unseen 
radiations of thought-waves from people, 
such as love, hate, jealousy, fear, envy, 
good-will. Our youth are handicapped or 
helped in their development by each and 
every one of these agencies. Back of all 
things making up the world, are persons 
with thoughts which they send out, inten¬ 
tionally or otherwise, which affect other 
persons. 

How may we affect “thought”! 

Back of every thought is “an idea” 
which has been received through experi¬ 
ence, transmission or suggestion, and this 
idea causes or increases “a feeling” which 
because of thought creates “an attitude.” 
Then, too, the attitude is changed or made 
more rigid and unchanging by the thought. 
Let us apply our theory to the business 
world. 

I think this a perfectly safe and just 

68 


HOW MAKE THE WORLD SAFE 


question that may be asked of any group 
or single individual, “What do you hope 
to do for the world through your particular 
business or profession?” 44 Why did you 
choose it?” or 44 Why do you stay in it?” 
If the reason given is that of constructive 
value it is legitimate—if not, it is an un¬ 
safe force, for that which is not construc¬ 
tive is destructive or (to say the least) is 
valueless. An apparently legitimate busi¬ 
ness may be an evil influence in a com¬ 
munity or country because of the thought- 
power of those in control. 

I do not wish to tire my readers with a 
lesson on psychology, but I do wish to 
show this: that thoughts are caused and 
intensified by attitudes, and attitudes are 
affected and determined by thought. The 
most needed thing back of every phase of 
the world’s activity is proper and safe 
attitudes toward the activity itself, towards 
those upon whom the activity will react, 
with the major or dominant attitude of 
making a real contribution to life through 
this activity. 

I believe if every parent held the right 
attitude toward each individual child’s 
four-fold development; each family held 
the right attitude toward the welfare of 
his neighbor; every physician toward his 



THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


patient; every lawyer toward each and 
every client; every employer toward his 
employee; every employee toward his em¬ 
ployer; every politician or public leader 
toward his constituency; every disciplina¬ 
rian, public or otherwise, toward the one to 
be disciplined; every living person, man, 
woman, or child, the right attitude toward 
those weaker, more ignorant or helpless 
(physically, mentally, morally and spir¬ 
itually), human or animal—if these at¬ 
titudes were as they should be, permeated 
with the essence of love, sympathy, for¬ 
bearance and a spirit of helpfulness, we 
should need nothing more. 

It is God-given and intended that each 
and every one of His children, I care not 
how old or young, shall need help from the 
other, for through being helped one learns, 
or should learn, the God-trait of apprecia¬ 
tion, and through helping, one develops 
the God-trait of sympathy. It is God- 
given that each and every one of His 
children shall exercise his body, mind and 
soul in order that he may develop toward 
the God-man. We may call it work or 
play, but God intends it for “exercise.” 
It is God-intended that each one of His 
children shall in some way be employed, 
directed or disciplined by others, in order 


HOW MAKE THE WORLD SAFE 


that he may learn the lesson of submission, 
humility, and the proper attitude towards 
authority—for only he who can submit 
cheerfully and faithfully to authority 
develops the proper attitude toward those 
who are under his authority. 

It is God-intended that each and every 
one of His children should have certain 
rights: that his desires be gratified and 
that he be truly happy, providing it does 
not interfere with his physical, mental, 
moral or spiritual development or that of 
any other child of God. 

It is God-intended that some men should 
study these physical and mental bodies of 
ours, and that they should discover in 
God’s herbs, chemicals, or unseen forces, 
those things which because of ignorance 
or neglect we need to have resupplied in 
order to have wholesome, clean and healthy 
temples within which the living God may 
abide and through which He shall work 
and manifest Himself. 

It is God-intended that those best in¬ 
formed in the civic laws, should argue for 
and protect the rights of one who "because 
ignorant of the same might not receive 
that which is his right. I believe any and 
every activity is or will become legitimate 
and constructive and therefore safe for 

71 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


our boys and girls and youth to enter into 
if the attitudes of those controlling and 
serving in the same are as they should be. 
I also believe no activities harmful to our 
children or youth, indirectly or directly, 
will continue to be carried on when those 
in control of the activity do have the safety 
of the children and youth at heart . 

One day I was leaving a field where a 
number of people had collected to observe 
an exhibition. I was being pulled along 
at a much more rapid gait than I was ac¬ 
customed to walk, especially on such a hot 
day, as I had my French bull on the other 
end of a chain and he was in a hurry. As 
I was intent, looking on the ground for 
four-leaved clovers, I did not notice that 
he had pulled me to where if I took an¬ 
other step I should step on a young man, 
who, with a little boy, was lying in the 
grass. “Have a heart” he said, and I, 
(embarrassed) laughingly made an apol- 

°gy. 

What is your attitude toward your em¬ 
ployer or toward those in authority in one 
phase or another of your daily activity? 

What is your attitude toward your em¬ 
ployee or toward some one who may be 
serving you in a paid or moral capacity? 

What is your attitude as a parent to- 

72 


HOW MAKE THE WORLD SAFE 


\ 


ward your or another’s children and 
animals ! 

What is your attitude in official capacity 
toward your subordinates! 

What is your attitude toward your 
friends and toward those who seemingly 
are not your friends! 

Are you being dragged by something on 
the other end of a chain and are you so 
intent upon looking for four-leaved clovers 
or other symbols of good luck, that you 
are stepping on or are about to step on 
the rights or needs of some child or youth 
to whom you are related by blood ties or 
otherwise! (For you are related to all.) 

If so, “have a heart” and you will find 
right in your path those to whom your 
“good luck” may mean “bad luck.” 

How can we change attitudes! Where 
shall we commence! First of all, let us 
commence with our own. What is it that 
enters into my life that determines what 
my attitude shall be towards a person, a 
condition, or towards things in general! 
My attitude towards this person may be 
one of tolerance. Why! Either I “envy” 
her because she is smarter, more capable, 
or has more charms. Perhaps “conceit” 
enters in and I feel she is not my equal 
or that her standards are lower or what 

73 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


not—using myself as the “model.” “Ig¬ 
norance” may enter in. Perhaps if I 
knew the circumstances, disappointments, 
losses or motives of that life my attitude 
would be entirely different. I might be¬ 
come righteously indignant and fight with 
all the womanhood which I possess some 
things toward which my attitude is at 
present extremely friendly, if I under¬ 
stood the motives behind them. 

Our attitudes are determined, too, by the 
interest we have, in the person, condition 
or cause. So I believe attitudes are really 
determined by two fundamental things— 
ignorance versus knowledge, and selfish¬ 
ness versus unselfishness in some form. 

If I knew you and you knew me, 

If both of us could clearly see 
And with an inner sight divine 
The meaning of your heart and mine, 

I’m sure that we would differ less, 

And clasp our hands in friendliness. 

Our thoughts would pleasantly agree 
If I knew you and you knew me. 

If I knew you and you knew me 
As each one knows his own self, we 
Could look each other in the face, 

And see therein a truer grace. 

Life has so many hidden woes, 

So many thorns for every rose, 

The “why” of things our hearts would see 
If I knew you and you knew me. 

74 


\ 


HOW MAKE THE WORLD SAFE 


The author of these simple words is un¬ 
known but what a wealth of truth they 
contain! 

Do you dislike a certain person! Make 
it one of the duties of your life to “know” 
him better. 

Are you disinterested and indifferent 
toward some cause or movement! Learn 
of the fundamentals upon which it is based 
—PERHAPS IT IS THE CHANNEL 
THROUGH WHICH YOU CAN HELP 
TO MAKE THE WORLD SAFER THAN 
IT NOW IS. 

Are you envious of some person! 
Develop yourself, not that you may be or 
have what that person is or has, but that 
you may improve your equipment and 
development. 

Are you mean and hateful toward some¬ 
one whom you think you know! Perhaps 
you are deterring him in his development 
by the thought-waves which you send out 
as well as by your acts, so that you have 
caused him heart-aches, and have .stolen 
the joy from his living. Know him and 
you will find something to love—love him 
and you will forget—forget and you will 
help—help and you will be changing and 
making attitudes from which only con¬ 
structive and healthv thoughts will come. 

75 



THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


Then and then only will your life be a safe 
life for the boy or girl to come in contact 
with. When your individual thought world 
is safe, and my individual thought world 
is safe, we shall have made a big con¬ 
tribution towards making the “ world at 
large” safe. I shall carry this thought 
a little further in my next chapter— 
i i Your part in bringing out the kingdom of 
heaven as well as to develop it from 
within. ’ ’ 


76 


“Those that seek me diligently, shall find me.” 

Prov. 8:17. 


“As long as he sought Jehovah, God made 
him to prosper.” 


II Chron. 26:5. 


“Seek good and not evil, that you may live 
and so Jehovah, the God of Hosts, will be with 
you.” 

Amos. 5:14. 

“Seek ye first His kingdom and His right¬ 
eousness; and all these things shall be added 
unto you.” 

Matt. 6 : 33. 


“The Kingdom of God cometh not with ob¬ 
servation, neither shall they say, Lo, here: or 
there: for lo, the Kingdom of God is within 
you.” 

Luke 17 : 20, 21. 

We are the builders, 

We who from day to day toil at our task, 
Weary, yet forging on and on where’er we be, 
At loom, at burning furnace, 

On broad highway. 

And as we w T ork, this is the thing we ask:— 
When work is done at last, oh may we see 
The task accomplished in its entirety. 

May we look back and find no thing undone 
That was worth doing. 

All things worked out to make the perfect 
whole, 

The race well-run. 


Alice E. Sutcliffe. 







CHAPTER V 


HOW TO MAKE THE WORLD THE 
KINGDOM OF GOD 

I have written at length, of ways in 
which we may help to make the child safe 
for the world and the world safe for the 
child, though I realize that each reader 
might, to advantage, add another chapter 
on each subject, so limitless are the avenues 
of approach. 

My hope is that as you read, your im¬ 
agination will be so stimulated that you 
will see even more possibilities than have 
been mentioned here; that you will feel 
impelled to work them out through the 
lives of your children and young people in 
the home, school, church-school, or com¬ 
munity. 

Before one starts anything of any kind 
he has or should have some definite object 
or reason for so doing, as it gives “ direc¬ 
tion ” as well as ‘‘impetus” to the activity. 
Before starting on a journey, he has some 

destination towards which he is journey- 

79 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


ing. Before making an article of any 
kind, lie has a pattern or model, either be¬ 
fore him or in his mind’s eye. 

We Christian people are trying to he 
followers of Christ, whether w r e publicly 
announce it or not. The purpose for 
which He lived, worked and died was to 
establish the Kingdom of God. Not until 
■within recent years has any one save a 
few of our most conscientious and far- 
seeing laity given this subject any concern, 
since they did not sufficiently realize that 
it was up to them to build the foundation 
upon which such a kingdom could be 
established and endure. 

We find when reading the New Testa¬ 
ment that Jesus used for the subject of 
all His discourses “The Kingdom of 
God” or “The Kingdom of Heaven,” 
meaning one and the same. If we are to 
help carry on the work for which God 
evidently sent Him and for which I feel 
reasonably sure He has sent us, we may 
with all sincerity inquire as to just what 
is meant by that phrase. In order to ac¬ 
complish what has been suggested in the 
previous chapters we must know what our 
goal is to be, and, if possible, focus on some 
fundamental principles relative to such a 
goal. We shall then be less likely to 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


waste time and strength, both of which 
are very precious in reaching such a 
goal as “the establishing of the King¬ 
dom of God” which will be heaven if it be 
attained. 

Jesus explained some things to the 
people of His day in regard to this subject, 
and while He used terms and illustrations 
familiar to them, though perhaps less 
familiar to some of us, yet I feel that there 
are vital and fundamental implications in 
them for any who will try to interpret in 
terms of his own life and living. He tried 
to show why, from outside observances, 
the Kingdom of Heaven seemed to be a 
failure by giving the parable of the sower, 
Matt. 13: 3-9: 

“And he spake to them many things in 
parables, saying, Behold, a sower went 
forth to sow; 

“And when he sowed, some seeds fell 
by the wayside, and the birds came and 
devoured them. 

“Others fell upon the rocky places, 
where they had not much earth, and 
straightway they sprang up, because they 
had no deepness of earth: 

“And when the sun was risen, they 
were scorched; and because they had no 
root, they withered away. 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


“And some fell among thorns; and the 
thorns grew up and choked them. 

“But others fell upon the good ground, 
and yielded fruit, some an hundredfold, 
some sixty, some thirty. 

“He that hath ears, let him hear.” 

And its explanation, Matt. 13: 9-23: 

“Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. 

“And the disciples came, and said unto 
him, Why speakest thou unto them in 
parables? 

“He answered and said unto them, Unto 
you it is given to know the mysteries of 
the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is 
not given. 

“For whosoever hath, to him shall be 
given, and he shall have abundance; but 
whosoever hath not, from him shall be 
taken away even that which he hath. 

“Therefore speak I to them in parables; 
because seeing they see not; and hearing 
they hear not, neither do they understand. 

“And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy 
of Isaiah which saith, By hearing ye shall 
hear, and shall in no wise understand; and 
seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise 
perceive. 

“For this people’s heart is waxed gross, 

and their ears are dull of hearing and their 

eyes they have closed; lest at any time 

82 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


they should see with their eyes, and hear 
with their ears, and should understand 
with their heart, and should turn again, 
and I should heal them. 

4 ‘But blessed are your eyes, for they 
see; and your ears, for they hear. 

“For verily I say unto you, That many 
prophets and righteous men have desired 
to see the things which ye see, and saw not 
them; and to hear those things which ye 
hear, and heard them not. 

“Hear ye therefore the parable of the 
sower. 

“When any one heareth the word of the 
kingdom, and understandeth it not, then 
cometh the evil one, snatcheth away that 
which hath been sown in his heart. This 
is he that was sown by the wayside. 

“And he that was sown upon the rocky 
places, this is he that heareth the word 
and straightway with joy receiveth it. 

“Yet hath he not root in himself, but en- 
dureth for a while; and when tribulation 
or persecution ariseth because of the word, 
straightway he stumbleth. 

“He that was sown among the thorns 
this is he that heareth the word; and the 
care of this world, and the deceitfulness 
of riches, choke the word, and he becometh 
unfruitful. 


83 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


“But he that was sown among the good 
ground is he that heareth the word, and 
understandeth it; who verily beareth fruit 
and bringeth forth some an hundred fold, 
some sixty, some thirty/’ 

If Jesus were to have given this lesson 
to people who had been brought up in New 
York or in any other big city, people who 
had never seen a wheat field and who there¬ 
fore knew nothing of the anxiety involved 
in planting seeds and looking for the har¬ 
vest, I feel reasonably sure He would have 
used city folks’ language, but He was 
speaking to a people whose livelihood de¬ 
pended principally if not wholly on their 
harvests. 

They knew the kind of soil necessary 
for a good harvest. It may have been that 
as He spoke, He pointed to a sower across 
on the hillside. 

We know that truth lies scattered all 
about us. We know that any one planting 
seeds of truth must prepare the soil that 
the seeds may take root and grow. We 
know, too, that only the truth which we 
allow to take root will flourish and become 
a part of us. 

Matt. 13: 24-31: 

“Another parable set he before them, 
saying, the kingdom of heaven is likened 

84 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


unto a man that sowed good seed in his 
field. 

“But while men slept, his enemy came 
and sowed tares among the wheat, and 
went away. 

“But when the blade sprang up, and 
brought forth fruit, then appeared the 
tares also. 

“And the servant of the householder 
came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou not 
sow good seed in thy field? Whence then 
has it tares? 

“He said unto them, An enemy hath 
done this/. The servant said unto him, 
Wilt thou then that we go and gather them 
up? 

“But he saith, Nay, lest haply while ye 
gather up the tares, ye root up the wheat 
with them. 

“Let both grow together until the har¬ 
vest ; and in the time of the harvest, I will 
say to the reapers, Gather up first the 
tares, and bind them in bundles to burn 
them; but gather the wheat into my barn. ’ ’ 

His hearers knew what it would mean if 
an enemy (the Canaanites, Hittites, or 
Jebusites for instance, people who were 
continually warring with them), should 
come by night and plant tares in their 
gardens. What were tares? They were 

85 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


a kind of grass which grew up in wheat 
fields. The bearded kind resembled wheat. 
The seeds were poisonous for humans, and 
though they were gathered and sometimes 
used as a chicken food, in most cases they 
were burned. 

Jesus was talking in familiar language 
to them. He tried to show that the King¬ 
dom of Heaven was like unto a field of 
wheat free from tares and that all who did 
that which was contrary to the Kingdom of 
Heaven were “enemies” of the Kingdom 
—that sometime, somewhere, somehow, the 
tares in one’s life would be gathered and 
taken from the good. 

If you and I should analyze our lives, 
putting in one list the qualities in us which 
resemble the tares, how much good would 
be left? Think it over seriously, taking 
a piece of paper and making the two lists. 
Then carefully pick out^and discard first 
one, then another, of the tares. Later 
when our harvest time comes, would we 
not be better to look upon, more gratifying 
to Him who plants only good seeds in 
us, just as the field of wheat, full in its 
harvest, looks to the man who owns or 
has planted it? 

. I believe any person, any condition or 

circumstance which causes tares to be 

86 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


planted in your life, is an enemy of yours, 
though he may link arms with you and 
wear a smile; and if you cause tares to be 
planted in the life of some one else, espe¬ 
cially in the life of a child, you are an 
enemy of that child, though you may not 
have sensed the fact. 

Let us learn to distinguish between our 
enemies and our friends, recognizing and 
appreciating our friends, and trying to 
plant seeds of good in the lives of those 
who seemingly are our enemies though not 
intentionally or consciously such. Let us 
remind ourselves that we may not know 
personally many of the people who have 
been our best friends; may never have 
heard of them—and yet we benefit by 
their contribution to life. Also that we 
may in the same way be a true friend 
to many a one whom we do not know 
personally. 

Again in parable He tried to show some¬ 
what of the growth of the Kingdom of 
Heaven. 

Matt. 13: 31, 32: 

4 4 Another parable set he forth before 
them, saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is 
like to a grain of mustard seed, which a 
man took, and sowed in his field: 

“ Which indeed is less thfin all seeds: but 

'87 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


when it is grown, it is greater than the 
herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the 
birds of the air come and lodge in the 
branches thereof.” 

The plant referred to is the Sinapis 
Nigra, which grows wild in Palestine and 
is a familiar sight in Gennesaret, where 
He was preaching. It is also found under 
cultivation in the gardens, when it reaches 
a great size, being often ten or twelve feet 
in height. Being an annual and growing 
from a seed, it is naturally compared with 
other garden herbs, but, while it grows 
from the smallest seed, it, unlike the other 
herbs, becomes a tree. It bears a profu¬ 
sion of minute seeds, of which the birds 
are very fond, sitting or lodging, as Jesus 
says, in the branches as they eat. Jesus 
compares the Kingdom of Heaven to that 
seed—for many times, the tiniest thing, 
the most obscure incident or the appar¬ 
ently insignificant word spoken, may grow 
in the heart of a person until it broadens 
his life to such an extent that those more 
dependent lean upon his every act and 
feed upon his word. Again, the mustard 
seed and its manner of growth was famil¬ 
iar to His hearers—but—what a suggestion 
for us! 

He used another parable to illustrate 

88 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


why an all important thing should seem to 
them, not knowing, insignificant. 

Matt. 13:33: 

4 ‘Another parable spoke he unto them: 
The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto 
leaven, w r hich a woman took, and hid in 
three measures of meal, till it was all 
leavened. ” 

We all know of what use leaven is in 
the making of bread. We of today use 
in most instances the yeast cake. In those 
days a piece of yesterday’s dough was put 
into the new batch of flour, and left to 
ferment until ready to bake. The same 
method is used today, where yeast is not 
accessible. 

Why compare the Kingdom of Heaven 
to the leaven? Because when one fully 
realizes what the Kingdom of Heaven is 
and that it is within each and every one, 
it will, if allowed to work, so permeate 
every activity of his life that he will 
become transformed into a life-giving 
and life-saving individual—just as the 
flour, through the process of leavening, is 
in condition to be made into a life-giving 
and life-saving food. 

“Well,” you ask, “of what value is it?” 
for we, like the Jews of old, are looking 
for good values. 


89 



THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


Again in parable Jesus says, Matt. 13: 
44, 45, 46: 

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto 
a treasure hidden in the field; which a man 
found and hid, and in his joy he goeth and 
selletli all that he hath, and buyeth that 
field. 

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like 
unto a man that is a merchant, seeking 
goodly pearls; 

“And having found one pearl of great 
price, he went and sold all that he had, 
and bought it.” 

Jesus considers the Kingdom of Heaven 
so valuable to human life that one should 
be willing to give up all else, if need be, 
at any rate, all things which keep him from 
enjoying it. 

How may we get such a priceless posses¬ 
sion? It is the purpose of this chapter to 
“hint” as to some of the ways, but let me 
say in parenthesis, it cannot be given you 
in the form of a gift which may be seen. 
It is that which you have the power within 
you to develop and cherish. 

Let us sum up the ideas which these 
parables have conveyed to our minds. 
First: like all things which grow and 
develop, truth, a corner stone in the afore- 

90 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


said foundation, comes in suggestion or 
seed form which takes root and flourishes 
only when the soil of the mind is ready, 
that is, in a receptive attitude. Secondly: 
each and every one has had tares (untruths, 
half-truths, perverted truths, absolute 
falsehoods even) planted in his life in one 
way or another; perhaps unintentionally 
by some one considered a friend and who 
himself thinks he is a friend; perhaps by 
one who does not respect the whole truth, 
or by one who indirectly causes conditions 
or circumstances which deceive as to what 
is real truth. 

That homely phrase, Every knock is 
a boost,’’ could always be true for us if we 
would so seek for truth that we should find 
it clothed in mishaps and hardships as well 
as in what we call success. If we would 
only discard all the tares from our lives 
and keep the soil weeded out in order that 
no more could take root, we should, I feel 
sure, constructively help this world on its 
way to the Kingdom of Heaven. 

How shall we know a friend? Any per¬ 
son who makes it possible for a construc¬ 
tive element to enter into our physical, 
mental, moral or spiritual make-up, either 
through personal contact or through the 

91 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


causation of circumstances or conditions, 
is a friend and personally I believe there 
is no other friend. 

We, perhaps, do not know by name or 
personal contact many of our friends—we 
perhaps do not enjoy the company of our 
truest friends as much as that of others; 
but are we working on the foundation of 
the Kingdom of Heaven? Then let us rec¬ 
ognize, appreciate and accept all they have 
to offer. Be a friend to any and all with 
whom you come in contact by doing what 
has been suggested as typical of real 
friendship, even though those whom you 
are befriending do not enjoy you. Per¬ 
haps they may dislike and avoid you, but 
sometime, somewhere, we shall all recog¬ 
nize and appreciate those who were friends 
and likewise we shall be appreciated by 
those to whom we were friends. 

This brings us to the third idea: that it 
is many times the little act of kindness, the 
opportune word of advice or encourage¬ 
ment, the seemingly unappreciated round 
of duties or life-givings that grow and 
grow in the mind and soul of another until 
he becomes bigger, better and more noble 
than the one who started the leavening 
process. 

Fourthly: that it is when the Kingdom 

92 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


of Heaven gets to working from the inside 
that a person, before useless or of little 
value, develops into a life-giving, life¬ 
saving, life-building individual. We now 
have at least some basis upon which to con¬ 
sider 4 ‘How to make the world the King¬ 
dom of God.” 

Just as many “grains of sand” go to 
make up the “pile of sand” so the King¬ 
dom of God must be made up of “souls of 
God,” for it is to be a soul or spirit king¬ 
dom. The foundation will be this physical 
world, with all that goes to make it up, but 
with a different (because more fully 
developed) spirit dwelling within these 
physical temples of ours. It must start 
here, for this is the only life we “know” 
about. 

Jesus said, “It is the spirit that giveth 
life—the flesh profiteth nothing,” and we 
know that is true. The flesh when the 
spirit leaves it surely profiteth nothing—it 
is dead. You cannot kill “life” (which is 
spirit) though you may dwarf, mar or mis¬ 
use it. 

In a preceding paragraph I asserted that 
it is when the Kingdom of Heaven gets to 
working from the inside that a person de¬ 
velops into a life-giving, life-saving, life¬ 
building individual. 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


Where do I get my authority for such 
a statement? 

From Jesus. He says, “The Kingdom 
of God is within you.” Jesus is my au¬ 
thority, for in such matters there has never 
been one like him, according to history, and 
we needs must go by that. Think of it! 
The Kingdom of God is within you, and 
many a reader will have to admit to him¬ 
self at least, that he, afraid some one would 
know it, has taken particular pains to 
smother or deny it; yet at some unguarded 
moment it lias burst forth in a kind word, 
or an uplifting act, then, fearing lest some 
one should suspect his natural God-like 
tendency, he does something which again 
sidetracks the outsider. 

The highest attainment of life is within 
you—is within each and every child of 
God. That is what a religious life is, a 
life which gives to his fellowmen of that 
which he has received; it is the well 
rounded life; a life physically, mentally, 
morally and spiritually developed from 
the seed which is within, flowering out into 
character through service, a service which 
shall bring out from these little ones, as 
well as from ourselves, results which 
should come because of this Kingdom of 
God which is within. 

94 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


Every reader knows if he should step 
out of the open window into mid-air that 
because of the law of gravitation he would 
fall to the ground—that if he goes out in 
the rain he will get wet—that if he puts 
his hand in too close contact with a flame 
he will be burned. He also knows! if he 
plants a seed, it must have suitable soil, 
sunshine, and moisture, else nature can¬ 
not do its best work, through that seed. 

We have come to know, respect and obey 
these laws, first, because they get us what 
we want and help us not to have those 
experiences which we dislike. In other 
words, we find we must work with nature; 
that this is a world of cause and effect. 1 
have tried in my previous chapters to show 
that the same is true of nature, in the hu¬ 
man. When we take advantage of and use 
the natural God-like tendencies in har¬ 
mony with the laws which govern every 
form of life, we get results which we ad¬ 
mire, respect and emulate, though perhaps 
do not always fully appreciate. 

To work “with” a person or law means 
harmony; to work against a person or law 
discord. To work with God by keeping in 
harmony with His laws, whether working 
through nature or a person, is to be in 
heaven. This may not always mean your 

85 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


choice of working. Personally, I believe 
“heaven is an achievement.’’ So when 
you develop the Kingdom of God which is 
within you, you will have achieved, to that 
degree, heaven. 

It must be necessary to catch at least a 
glimpse of heaven in one’s own soul while 
he is trying to achieve heaven for the 
world. 

Most people make a mistake in thinking 
they must achieve heaven absolutely in 
their own souls before making any attempt 
to help achieve it for the world. We can’t 
do it that way. It is against the law of 
cause and effect. 

You, dear reader, can’t help reflecting 
what of heaven you have achieved, so the 
world does get the benefit of it though to a 
lesser degree than as if you willingly and 
intentionally contributed it. This is true 
also: every step of achievement you have 
made is because of what the world has 
done for you, either through those like 
yourself, perhaps, who unconsciously re¬ 
flected or through one who volunteered in 
the building up of the Kingdom of Heaven. 
We get a realization of true fellowship 
with God through human fellowship, and it 
is by life touching life, life responding to 
life, life contributing to life, that life 

96 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


grows, develops and achieves, in the indi¬ 
vidual and in the universe. 

As one writer says, “Deep spirituality 
must be separated from the world and yet 
not detached from human brotherhood.’’ 
So while spiritual or soul achievement is 
not of the world it necessarily is in the 
world; it is through contact with the world 
that its achievement is helped and it in 
turn must help the world in its achieve¬ 
ment. 

4 4 Man builds up man—man builds up the 
world. Nature helps—Nature forces— 
Nature calls to man to be used. Each 
step forward is a guide to the next to be 
taken, for man must learn from the past.” 

“I do nothing but go about persuading 
you all, old and young alike, not to take 
thought for your persons, or your prop¬ 
erties, but first and chiefly to care about 
the greatest improvement of the Soul.” 

(Socrates.) 

There are many different avenues of 
approach to this all-important life-giving, 
life-saving, and life-developing Kingdom 
of God, but the one avenue which I wish to 
open up before you and show the need 
for us to travel over is 4 4 Soul Nurture 
Avenue,” which leads to heaven. 

We enter this avenue through a narrow 

97 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


gateway. As we learn of the needs of those 
passing through childhood, then those of 
boyhood and girlhood, young manhood, and 
young womanhood, the avenue widens. 
Just inside the gateway is a building in 
which one learns that in the home (added 
to the satisfying of physical and mental 
wants and the establishing of needed moral 
standards for the child), one can in more 
ways than you can imagine keep warm 
and nourish “the soul” which contains the 
elements needed in the building up of the 
Kingdom of God. The soul’s first need 
is to develop a soul-self as well as a physi¬ 
cal self. 

Soul longings are not seemingly as in¬ 
sistent and compelling as physical and 
mental longings. I said “seemingly.” I 
feel very sure in my own mind that they 
are but that those in the home are too busy 
catering to the physical wants. I should 
be very inconsistent if, after writing the 
previous chapters, I belittled the catering 
to physical wants, for they do and must 
come first. I do not suggest the placing 
of less emphasis on them but I do suggest 
that we learn the language of the Soul and 
place more emphasis upon meeting its 
needs. 

Henry Ward Beecher once said, “If I 

98 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


could be born right the first time, I’d take 
my chances on the second,” and we learn 
in this the first building on Soul Nurture 
Avenue, the keynote of soul culture as 
suggested in a previous chapter. 

We also learn in this building that one 
of the God-given tendencies of the soul 
is “sensitiveness”; for it is through keep¬ 
ing the soul sensitive—keeping it from 
becoming calloused, that the nurture of the 
soul is possible. Its sensitiveness causes 
it to “reach out” for nourishment, to 
respond to those elements which will keep 
it in tune with the Over-soul, and also to 
be bruised and scarred by other elements. 

Psychologists tell us that if we could 
expose the soft gray matter of which the 
brain is made, we would discover that 
everything we see or hear leaves its im¬ 
press ; that every act or movement makes 
an impression, which each time it is re¬ 
peated gets deeper and deeper until it be¬ 
comes a well-worn path. But we learn in 
this our first building on Soul-nurture 
Avenue that confusion, wrangling and un¬ 
musical sounds in the home scar and bruise 
that baby-soul, and that as young as in 
infancy and early childhood his soul is 
fed and nurtured by harmony of coloring, 
simplicity and order in his own room as 

99 


> 

> 9 



THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


well as other rooms into which he is taken. 
I cannot help thinking that when the infant 
is kicking and cooing in his little crib he is 
smiling at things we cannot see and that 
while he does not yet know what harmony, 
simplicity and order are, he responds to 
them. 

As we go from this building, the speaker 
says, “Don’t put into your baby’s room 
your old worn-out furniture and cast off 
things. Don’t have meaningless and out¬ 
worn pictures on the wall; if you can’t 
afford anything but a white crib and white 
plastered walls, you are at least ‘conserv¬ 
ing’ his soul elements,. At all events 
have the pictures and surroundings simple 
but harmonious and appropriate. ’ ’ 

We pass on into the next building. We 
hear a voice speaking to a group ahead of 
us and we, putting our fingers to our lips, 
say “sh” and then listen to what is being 
said: “God has made the soul naturally 
active for if it ‘responded’ only, it would 
not develop initiative.” We learn here 
that God did not intend for a soul to be 
alone; that He has made it impossible for 
the child up through the years, even to 
the time of its return to Him, to develop 
as it should without “others.” 

It is a fact that while he longs merely 

100 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


for company in early childhood, he soon 
makes us understand that his soul hungers 
for a mate with which to play. While he 
is playing —through his play—his soul is 
meeting its need for ‘ 4 others, ’ ’ and through 
them he begins to develop the God-given 
soul tendencies of happiness, sympathy 
and real brotherliness. “How,” one asks, 
“can a young child know what real broth¬ 
erliness is?” The answer comes, “He 
doesn’t, but he naturally is brotherly, and 
his soul is hurt for life, I believe, by 
unbrotherly acts on the part of others.” 
“Why?” you ask. “Because naturally he 
loves, naturally he trusts, naturally he re¬ 
sponds to those things which we call 
brotherly, and when the other child, 
younger or older, disappoints that natural 
reaching out for the responsive element in 
another, the discordant note has entered 
his soul which leaves a scar, even more 
evident than one on the flesh.” 

While we are thinking over these words, 

we hear what has been inferred in another 

chapter. “It is soul touching soul that 

develops it.” “Pray tell us, how can a 

soul develop as it should when it touches 

an unresponsive or discordant soul?” you 

ask. ‘ ‘ Ah, ’ ’ the speaker says, ‘ ‘it develops 

those God-given soul tendencies of for- 

101 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


giveness, forgetfulness, and real brotherly 
love.” “But,” you say, “what does a 
little child know about forgiving and for¬ 
getting and brotherly love?” “Nothing. 
But he naturally is brotherly enough so 
that he does forgive and forget and we find 
him a few moments after a disappointing 
response lias been received, with his arms 
around the offender happily playing.” As 
we were about to leave this building the 
speaker said, “Lest it might not occur to 
you, let me say this: Let the little child 
‘lead’ in these things, for it is when older 
people direct, or by example cause him to 
be other than natural, that the} r dwarf or 
handicap the development of these natural 
soul tendencies. Yes, you may do this 
unintentionally by giving improper or too 
much attention to the physical wants, for 
the reaction now grows stronger and 
stronger between the two—the physical 
and soul.” 

We were silent for a moment as we 
passfed on down the avenue, then one said, 
“Jesus said, ‘Except as ye become as a 
little child ye shall not enter into the King¬ 
dom of Heaven. ’ I can now see why, 
can’t you?” And we all walked quietly 
on saying one to the other, “A little child 
shall lead them.” 


102 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


I can tell you we did some thinking and 
regretting before passing into the next 
building, but it was with open hearts and 
a new spirit of humility that we entered. 
We sensed more truly than ever the 
degree of our importance to child life. 

We were met by a kindly old gentleman 
who said, “Don’t look so disconsolate. I 
only hope you now realize not only the 
part you are to play in the soul develop¬ 
ment of the boy and girl but how, through 
meeting their souls’ need, you are develop¬ 
ing your own soul. Ah, but I have a 
glimpse of heaven in your faces already, 
for as one ‘sees’ he begins to appre¬ 
ciate.” 

Speaking of appreciation, it is in boy¬ 
hood and girlhood that we must help them 
to “appreciate” the home, parents, school, 
teachers, and the thousand and one things 
contributed towards their lives, for ap¬ 
preciation is a soul element, though it is 
as one becomes informed that it begins 
to develop and gain strength. 

“Does information in itself develop ap¬ 
preciation f” we ask. ‘ ‘ That depends upon 
the previous physical, mental and moral 
teaching as well as on the soul nurture. 
Come with me into this room for a time, 
for there are others coming and I want 

103 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


to speak seriously. This room is called 
Soul-Culture Hall.” 

We learned there that while the hoy and 
girl are eager for information (which is 
mental) they are seeking ways of experi¬ 
menting and are investigating things for 
themselves, but that it is through the com¬ 
bination of information and experience, 
through conviction plus the opportunity 
for putting it into general practise, that 
appreciation is fully developed. It is only 
through having lost something that one is 
likely to appreciate another’s loss; through 
owning that one the more fully respects 
those things owned by another, and so I 
might go on, but you readers, think it 
through and apply it where you feel it is 
most needed in the soul development of 
those in your home, school, church school, 
or community. 

We learned here, in Soul Culture Hall, 
that we must strengthen and enrich those 
natural soul tendencies mentioned in the 
previous building through good music, the 
best in art, the great out-of-doors and 
through cooperation and good-will in 
games and loving service toward all whom 
they may help. 

“Why does a boy or girl shout and jump 
when in the woods or open!” we ask. 

104 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


“I suspect,” said this old gentleman, 
“it is the response of his soul to the things 
of God, the open, fresh exhilarating air, 
the sunshine, trees and mayhap,” he said, 
scratching his head, “he or she is feeling 
something of that which the little babe in 
the crib was seeing and smiling at—who 
knows ?’ 7 

He opened the door for us to pass out, 
but closed it again and said, “Beware of 
habit. Everything the boy or girl sees or 
hears, everything he does or thinks, deters 
or strengthens his soul development. So 
if you really wish to culture as well as 
nurture his soul tendencies, watch out for 
and cultivate in him helpful habits which 
are included among the tools with which 
we have to work. Otherwise ‘habit’ may 
help in the callousing of his soul so that it 
will cease to be sensitive, to any degree, 
to the things needed for its development.” 

Then out on the avenue again, we stood 
in a group discussing “habit,” and we 
came to the conclusion that God had in¬ 
tended it should serve man in his develop¬ 
ment ; that character would be determined 
by one’s habit of doing, one’s habit of re¬ 
sponding to or disregarding his emotional 
feelings. We also decided that habits 
were formed very soon after birth, first 

105 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


through directing and controlling, by those 
older, and later by desire or convenience 
to self. 

So again we saw it was up to us to make 
possible the formation of habits which 
would be helpful in the nurture and culture 
of the soul, and in the case of an undesir¬ 
able one, to substitute a more constructive 
habit. 

Weary but enthusiastic, we climbed a 
long flight of stone steps which led us into 
a large room where the bared souls of 
youth might be read. Some there were 
who had arrived before us and were al¬ 
ready reading. A few would occasionally 
wipe away a tear; one was sitting on the 
very edge of her chair, eagerly devouring 
what she read. Others were merely walk¬ 
ing around as if they had not brought 
their glasses. Others, oh, so many, had 
brought their glasses of prejudice or self- 
satisfaction. They were unable to read. 

Suddenly through an open door, I over¬ 
heard the voice of a man telling a story, 
so I stepped quickly in and listened. 

“Some years ago,” the speaker said, 

“on a very fashionable street of a certain 

city, lived a man and woman with one 

beautiful child—a girl. Their home was 

106 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


beautifully furnished, comfort and luxury 
being in evidence on every side. 

“Our story centers around the hand¬ 
some mother, who not only possessed great 
wealth but a splendid education, in fact, 
everything which one could desire (so the 
neighbors thought). She was the center 
of attraction at parties and balls, and to 
receive a dinner invitation to her home 
was considered by young and old alike 
an occasion not to be ignored. 

“Whenever those interested in welfare 
and philanthropic work appealed to her 
for funds <she contributed generously but 
never could any one get her to give of her 
time and strength, as she claimed she was 
very busy. Many friends, who thoroughly 
enjoyed her company, her hearty laugh 
and winsome ways, felt she could, with 
these attractions, make a real contribution 
to those less fortunate, but whenever they 
suggested anything of the kind she would 
laugh and say, ‘I tell you I haven’t time 
and anyway I don’t care about the work. 
If I give money you should be satisfied. 
Why don’t you give it up and enjoy your¬ 
self? You’ll only be living once—make 
hay while the sun shines.’ 

“In the keeping of her many social en- 

107 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


gagements, her daughter, up through the 
years, had been left to the care of a nurse¬ 
maid, fortunately a woman who, because 
she had lost her husband and only child, 
tried to be a real mother to this girl. 

“The child, now grown to be a girl of 
fifteen, had become an accomplished violin¬ 
ist. She had had unusual teachers, who 
not only had developed her technique, but 
also her soul, by leading her into the true 
appreciation of the language of music. 
Strange to say, when Hope, for that was 
this girl’s name, played her best it was 
when her mother was out fulfilling some 
social obligation. 

“The father, while desiring to stay at 
home more often and enjoy his child, felt 
compelled to conform to his wife’s desires, 
since he, more than any one else, was very 
fond of her. 

“One afternoon, the mother was forced 
by an overtaxed and weary head, aching 
because of the confusion and whir of con¬ 
stant excitement, to lie down and rest. 

“She dreamed: 

“There was Hope standing in a field 

of high grown grass, faintly silhouetted 

against the sky, her hands outstretched 

and faintly saying, ‘Mother, Oh, Mother.’ 

The impulse was to rush to her at once, 

108 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


but she could not move, try as she would, 
she could not move. The agony of not 
being able to do that which she desired 
and the helpless and forlorn look on 
Hope’s face caused her to make a last 
final struggle and she awoke. 

“What was that! Was she still dream¬ 
ing! No! It was a violin. Such appeal¬ 
ing, heart-rending tones! only those tones 
which an artist in moments of loneliness 
and soul hunger could express. 

“She fled from the room. ‘Hope, Hope, 
forgive me; I understand. I did not be¬ 
fore realize. Hope, my dear child, come 
to your mother. Never more will I leave 
you. Can you ever forgive me for being 
so wrapt in myself and my own pleasures, 
for thinking that the world revolved 
around me, that I have forgotten you!’ 

“That evening when the father came 
home, his heart stopped beating when he 
heard, his eyes blurred when he saw—Hope 
was sitting on a stool at her mother’s feet 
and her mother was stroking her hair as 
she talked in the real heart tones of love.” 

After the speaker had finished, first a 
mother and then a father, who had heard 
the story, stood and told of his or her 
problems with youth. They agreed, “We 
do not understand them!” The speaker 

109 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


said in a gentle but reproving tone, “Do 
you try to understand them?” One said 
“I have no control over my boy or girl.” 
The speaker said, “Just what do you 
mean by ‘control’? If you are trying to 
force your youth to walk in your foot¬ 
steps; if you are trying to see which has 
the stronger will, if you do not respect 
his word, his convictions or desires, then 
I’m afraid you need to be controlled by 
some higher and more constructive pur¬ 
pose. You need to recall how you felt 
when you were that age.” 

Another stood and said, “My daughter 
gets farther and farther away from me 
each day. She never confides in me, never 
shows any affection toward me and yet I 
long to get closer.” 

With a sympathetic voice the speaker 

said, “That is a serious condition. What 

has caused it, I wonder? Did she ever 

confide in you?” “Oh, yes, years ago 

when she was younger.” “What did you 

do after receiving her confidence?” 

“Why, it generally was about something 

I would not allow her to do, or concerning 

some ambition which I felt was not worth 

while.” “Ah, which you felt was not 

worth while. Then you, unintentionally, 

dear one, caused the separation. Why did 

no 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


you not accept her plans, analyze them, 
show her the discrepancies in them and 
say, 4 Well, I think that would be fine, but 
do you know if you’d do or have this or 
that I believe it would be better. Think 
it over and see if you don’t think so.’ In 
that way she would have felt you had some 
respect for her ideas and would have been 
more likely to respond to your suggestions. 
By the way, what did you do when, in her 
younger years, she showed affection to¬ 
ward you?” asked the speaker. 44 Well, 
you see,” said the mother, 44 I’m not very 
affectionate and thought it foolish, so I 
gently pushed her away and said, 4 Now 
don’t dear.’ ” 44 Well,” said the speaker, 

4 4 you’ll have to admit that she at least 
has obeyed that command.” 

Beverently he bowed his head and I 
heard, 4 4 Lord, forgive these parents and 
teachers, for they know not what they do.” 
For a moment all was silent, then he said, 
44 I think I will tell you the story which a 
young man told me yesterday. 

4 4 He was not an exceptional young man 
to look at, unless you call a lad of seven¬ 
teen whose legs have grown so long that 
they seem out of proportion with the rest 
of his body, exceptional. 

4 4 He was a ruddy cheeked, blond haired, 

m 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


indifferent sort of youth when I first met 
him, one day two summers ago. 

“Yesterday I had an opportunity to have 
a long talk with him and these are his 
words as I remember them. 

“ ‘I had two sisters and a brother but 
they died when young. My parents, 
broken-hearted, concentrated their atten¬ 
tion upon me. 

“ ‘I have had all any boy could wish for 
in the way of comforts and opportunities. 
My home life has been clean and whole¬ 
some. I have been to dancing school— 
taken music lessons and have been allowed 
a certain amount of freedom—yet I have 
felt from the time I was fourteen, like a 
colt who would like to kick over the traces. 
I don’t know what the real reason for that 
feeling was, unless it was the w T ay, the 
nagging way, in which my mother insisted 
upon delivering an ultimatum. Dear 
mother, she meant all right. Father knew 
that, so he generally kept quiet when she 
was busy with me. 

“ 4 When I was about sixteen,—yes, just 
a year ago,—circumstances were such that 
my mother was away from home a good 
deal. 

“ ‘I would come home from preparatory 

school in the early afternoon, find a nice 

112 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


luncheon on the table for me with a note 
saying, that mother and father would be 
back by dinner time, if not, early in the 
evening. 

“ ‘I would sit down to do my studying 
but all I could hear was the tick of the 
clock and something calling me to kick 
over the traces and to kick ’em hard. 

“ ‘Why, man, I thought I’d die for lone¬ 
someness ! If only mother or father were 
home more often, to greet me when I come 
from school; if I only had some one to 
tell of the things that have happened, while 
they are fresh in my mind and seem im¬ 
portant ! I would say, while crunching my 
copy sheet in my hand. 

“ ‘Well, this is what happened. 

“ ‘I invited the boys to come in after 
they got their studying done and we would 
sing and play. 

“ ‘Finally one dark, gloomy afternoon, 
one of the boys, having a pack of cards in 
his pocket, suggested we play a game. I 
knew mother or father wouldn’t like to 
have me, but somehow this little adventure 
into the forbidden and as yet unexplored 
land seemed to satisfy that funny feeling 
I had had. • 

“ ‘ To make a long story short, we played 
more often and longer» since many of 

113 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


mother’s early evenings developed into the 
late hours of night. 

“ ‘We played .for money. I won’t go 
into that but I do want to tell you of a 
particular night. I have never told any 
one else. 

“ ‘ Every call for trumps found me with 
none, yet a voice kept saying within me, 
4 ‘Yes you have—play your trump card 
now. ’ ’ 

“ ‘ After a time this voice got on my 
nerves until I was ready to tight. 

“ ‘Discussion came up and because I 
refused to go on with the game, the boys 
pitched into me and we had a fist tight. 
Furniture was upset, cards were strewn 
over the floor, noses were bleeding. First 
one, then another, said to call it quits. As 
I stood there panting with my knee upon 
the chest of the last boy to give up, I 
heard the voice “Play your trump card 
now.” 

“ ‘I took that lad by the hand, lifted him 
to his feet and said, “I have not been 
fighting you fellows—I have nothing 
against any one of you—I have been fight¬ 
ing my worst self. I was standing on the 
edge of a black pit and a voice from that 
pit was saying, ‘Trumps are called—play 
your trump card now.’ I have played it. 

114 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


I win and the game of cards is finished 
for me, forever. 99 

“ 4 As I finished saying this I heard a 
sound and turning, what do you think I 
saw?—My father and mother with open 
mouths and staring eyes standing in the 
doorway. 

“ Ml dropped on my knees before them 
and said, “0 God—help them to under¬ 
stand. 

“ ‘ “ 0mother, be home to greet me 
when I come from school, will you? 

4 6 6 4 ‘ Father, take me with you when you 
can for 11 dare not be left alone to fight. 

“ ‘ “ Promise me that you will 1 fortify me 
with your patience and sympathy and keep 
me in the winning game ofilife. 

“ ‘ “I have kicked over the traces and 
am cured.” ’ ” 

When the speaker had finished he raised 
his hand, lifted his eyes and said, “Open 
thou the 1 eyes of these, thy appointed 
ones.” 

Before we left that hall we learned that 
not only'must the child be so trained that 
he is able to adjust himself to the world, 
but that the world, the home world, school 
world, and the community world, must ad¬ 
just its activities and thought to the needs 
of the youth; and that means not only 

115 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


his physical and i mental needs but his 
spiritual or soul needs. Unless this is 
done, despite all the other training, 
through despair, loneliness or indifference, 
he may become a menace to himself and 
to the world. 

If ever any soul needed a real friend, 
it iis during the years of transition from 
boyhood to manhood and girlhood to 
womanhood. It is then that the finishing 
touches are needed in the building of the 
Kingdom of / Heaven; the rounding of 
sharp corners, the exercising of less active 
virtues, the stimulating of higher forms of 
expression, the broadening of the sympa¬ 
thies, the deepening of their thought, the 
widening of their horizon and the accep¬ 
tance of any service offered with the sug¬ 
gestion for larger and bigger service. 
Above I all, create a desire for the high 
things first by showing real values one in 
relation to another. They must have def¬ 
inite leadership. That does not mean that 
they need la boss or dictator; but one who 
will lead them into the best and highest 
channels of thought, the broadest and most 
needed fields of service, a clear realization 
of the possibilities, needs, opportunities 
and responsibilities of themselves as well 

as others, and finally to a .true appreciation 

‘ 116 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


of the Power or Force back of all life— 
how without that nothing could be or en¬ 
dure. 

I have been speaking of some of the 
ways in which the Kingdom of God which 
is within develops from the inside out; 
now what course shall we as older people, 
(mothers, fathers, teachers, and builders 
of the Kingdom of Heaven) take in order 
to definitely aid in this development! 

How are we able to tell when a person 
has the measles, chicken-pox, or pneu¬ 
monia! How distinguish which it is! 
Isn’t it by the way in which the disease 
works out in the system! Many times a 
physician recognizes symptoms of disease 
in a person that have not come out, and so 
he gives medicine which will bring it out. 

Aside from what Jesus has said about it, 
we know that every one, child and adult 
alike, no matter how bad he may seem, has 
symptoms of having the Kingdom of God 
within him; or, to use more familiar lan¬ 
guage, has symptoms of having some good 
within him. 

It is our duty as leaders to give 
medicine, or teaching if you prefer, which 
will bring out that good, for I do not see 
why a rule that works with a diseased 
body or soul will not work with a well body 

117 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


or soul. When we serve medicine to the 
little ones which will bring out good, we 
must make it pleasurable to the child. 

Many times as one grows older, God 
sends bitter doses, often in large quanti¬ 
ties, but I feel reasonably sure that His 
object is to bring out more of the good 
which He knows is within, and which we 
under ordinary circumstances will not 
allow to come out. 

When 1 physicians prescribe for a patient, 
they do so according to age, giving a much 
smaller and weaker dose to an infant than 
to an adult. There have'been cases known 
where a child has got hold of medicine 
which was prescribed for an adult, only 
to have it make him very sick and perhaps 
kill him. This may be equally true of 
teaching or of things required from many 
children and youth. 

If in our teaching we require of a child 
or youth what we would of an adult we are 
not only liable to give him mental indi¬ 
gestion, but to kill the spirit within by dis¬ 
couraging him, putting out that flame of 
“desire” which is within each. In that 
way, we do more harm than good, for, as 
one writer says, “What is worse than to 
kill ‘desire’ in the human soul?” 

Desire is an'important soul element— 

118 


THE WORLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD 


in this case, a little different from longing. 
Through the things he sees, reads of, hears 
about, and the people with whom he meets, 
he forms in his imagination—ideals. Then 
it is that “desire” may be cultivated. (I 
don’t say there is any set time in a life, 
but at this time everything we do along 
that line counts.) We must create and 
stimulate a desire for the highest things; 
make him not satisfied to be or do less 
than his desire, remembering to make clear 
to him true values. After 'having created 
the desire to be and to do, we must make 
him believe that it is worth while; that he 
can be or do that which he desires; then 
he will very likely seek for ways in which 
he may do or be. We are to supply the 
opportunities. 

I believe with Margaret Slattery that 
what one desires, believes in, and seeks 
ways of 'accomplishing (if opportunities 
present themselves or are presented), one 
will secure or attain. 

With what ideas you have received from 
the teachings of Jesus, those things which 
you have learned from experience, and the 
many things which you may learn if you 
are receptive—taking for your purpose in 
life the one which Jesus had, the Building 
of the Kingdom of God by developing it 

119 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


within and drawing it out from others, I 
leave you (with the addition of a closing 
chapter), to read and think seriously of 
the few suggestions set forth in this little 
book. 


120 


“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold 
"Wondrous things out of thy law.” 

Psalm 119 : 18 . 

“I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear 
But now mine eye seeth thee.” 

Job 42 : 5 . 


/ 




CHAPTER VI 


IF THIS BE TRUE—WHAT THEN 1 

As you have read the previous chapters, 
questions have undoubtedly arisen in your 
mind. A difference of opinion may have 
arisen. Theoretically you agree but there 
is yet some doubt as to the real common 
sense used. You say it may be ‘a well- 
worked-out thought, but (yawning) you 
say, “ Give me something light to read now 
—something that will rest me and make 
me more comfortable.” 

During the reading of the first chapter, 
did you say to 1 yourself, “Well, is the child 
the most precious and wonderful thing in 
the world ?” If not, dear reader, tell me 
something that is more 1 so—prove it, if you 
can. 

If you as a parent see in 'a child one 

more mouth to be fed, one more body to 

be clothed, one more pair of lungs to cry 

and later shout and disturb your comfort, 

one more organism that has to be made to 

conform*to your wishes, comfort and re- 

123 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


quirements, one more to worry and fret 
over, one more to educate, one more to lose 
or leave behind, and—see nothing'else, you 
may have taken exception to this book. 

But if all these things which you see in 
the child are “incidental” to the vision 
which you have of what he may achieve 
and contribute towards life (according as 
you deal with him) the challenge will 
humble you. It will thrill you. It will 
inspire you to point him to the heights, 
to his God-life and, as you point, it will 
again challenge you to keep directly be¬ 
hind him, in order that you may encourage, 
and lift him, when he falls. 

ALWAYS STAY WITH HIM AND URGE HIM ON 

You cannot and need not be with him 
always physically, but if you insistently 
point high, he can never get away from 
the challenge of it. In that way you are 
always in his mind and with his spirit. If 
you don’t do this, others may lead him 
into by-paths which will make his life 
harder, sadder, and longer in its achieving. 

If you as a teacher see in a child merely 
a personality which must be endured in 
order that you may make a living; if you 
are teaching subjects rather than enlight- 

124 


IF THIS BE TRUE—WHAT THEN ? 


ening, enriching, and helping to fulfill an¬ 
other life; if you are pleasant and kind 
when, and only when, that child responds 
as you expect him to; if when he doesn’t 
respond you determine to show him who 
is “boss ’’ and wreak your vengeance and 
temper on him by cutting and insulting 
remarks (true or untrue); if you unjustly 
blame one of those under your care; if 
you are this kind of a person (for you are 
not a teacher), if you do these things ever , 
I say with all assurance you have not only 
wounded and scarred a soul, perhaps 
blighted a life, but you have denied God; 
the God within the child, jand the God 
within yourself, which should at your age 
and in acceptance of your calling be more 
fully developed. 

If you are a Sunday-school teacher be¬ 
cause you feel that you ought to be or be¬ 
cause you think the children cute or older 
ones interesting and for no other reason 
—you may be making a contribution, in 
spite of yourself, but. not with a definite¬ 
ness which you might if you had some goal 
in your thought towards which to lead. 

When a person chooses to work along 
some particular line, he has in most.cases 
answered an inner call to be that which he 
has chosen. When one answers a call, it 

125 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


is seldom with the full realization of what 
will be involved, what other calls may have 
to be disregarded or included, or to what 
it may lead; but when he does answer the 
call, he should expect himself to do so un¬ 
reservedly. This includes something more 
than mere acquiescence. 

If you are teachers or leaders because 
you feel that you may work with God in 
developing the mental side of life, let me 
suggest what you already know, but which 
so many teachers, alas, forget, that you 
must not develop the mental side alone. 
In the first place, you know you are de¬ 
pendent for the success of your work upon 
the physical development and condition of 
your pupil. This is also true: you, per¬ 
haps more than any other person who may 
come in contact with that life, may starve, 
dwarf, or kill the soul development in 
giving mental food, and in so doing help 
make that child a sullen, resentful and dis¬ 
interested adult who may develop in the 
activities of his life tendencies which shall 
make him unsafe for the world. You 
may, at least, make it very much harder 
for every teacher after you. 

Oh yes, teachers, you can, you must 

work ivith God, as must the parents. Few 

will appreciate your efforts; not the child 

126 


IF THIS BE TRUE—WHAT THEN ? 


(while a child); not every parent; but some 
day, if faithful to your vision, noble men 
and women will point to you as having 
been one who revealed the light when all 
seemed dark before them. 

When you were reading the second 
chapter, did you say to yourself, “I think 
there are many more dangerous things in 
this world than man developed only physi¬ 
cally and mentally, or having no moral 
standards, religious concepts or spiritual 
development ?’ ’ 

Very well, what are they? 

Man has, among other things, discovered 
that, by uniting certain chemicals, he can 
within a few moments send other men 
out of this existence by the hundreds. 
Personally, I feel assured that there are 
worse things that can happen to a life 
than to be sent out of this existence. You 
can’t kill or wipe out “life.” It is ever 
on the wing and when one’s body is 
shattered, the life within it is merely lifted 
and flies away, though we, having eyes, see 
it not. 

In spite of the assurance which most of us 
feel, we do value the physical body, as it is 
the temple within which life, the Kingdom 
of Heaven, the spiritual possibilities, God 
Himself, dwells; so as I have said in pre- 

127 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


vious chapters we must protect and beau¬ 
tify that temple. One who with his. own 
physique and developed mentality does not 
even respect that development in another, 
but invents, advertises, or permits any¬ 
thing which 4 6 destroys, ’ ’ certainly has 
nothing to offer for the “ developing ” of 
the moral or spiritual sides of life. He 
lowers standards and hampers develop¬ 
ment of any kind. 

Isn’t he truly the 4 ‘most to be dreaded” 
of all men? Oh yes, it is the 4 ‘man behind 
the “thing” to be feared. 

James in his book on Pragmatism says, 
“To any one who has ever looked on the 
face of a dead child or parent, the mere 
fact that matter could have taken for a 
time that precious form, ought to make 
matter sacred ever after. It makes no 
difference what the principle of life may 
be, material or immaterial, matter at any 
rate cooperates, lends itself to all life’s 
purposes. That beloved incarnation was 
among matter’s possibilities.” 

I do not agree that it makes no differ¬ 
ence what the principle of life may be. 
I do agree, as “Life” (that something 
which we cannot see, define, understand 
fully, or follow in its flight from this ex¬ 
istence) is sent to us, we must respect and 

128 


IF THIS BE TRUE—WHAT THEN? 


reverence whatever form it takes, and any¬ 
one who does not do that is disloyal if 
not dangerous to “Life.” Many times 
we cannot respect, let alone reverence the 
ways in which the “form” (or physical) 
expresses itself, but unless we have re¬ 
spect for the “form which we can see” and 
which is the vehicle of impression as well 
as expression, how can we fully value the 
spirit of “life” which dwells therein? 
We must, as we know of no better way to 
reach the spirit than through some bodily 
or physical avenue. 

Come with me into one of our prisons. 
After being greeted by the Warden, who 
places us under the care of an officer, we 
follow on, wondering just what is before 
us. We approach an iron gate which is 
unlocked by an official and relocked after 
we pass through and we find ourselves 
in a large, light, round room, the top of 
which is a dome made almost wholly of 
glass. Around the entire enclosure iron 
gratings extend up to the dome. In these 
are two gates guarded by an officer always 
on duty. The first thing that meets our 
eye is a large table before which, back to 
us, is seated an officer, and facing us on the 
opposite side, a young man with an old, 
careworn and sad-looking woman. The 

129 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


time is up! The officer signals. The man 
and woman stand up, and for a moment are 
clasped in each other’s arms! The woman 
walks out through the gate we entered, the 
young man through one in the iron grat¬ 
ing which is locked after him. 

We are asked to register our names and 
addresses, then we pass 1 through the 
second gate in the iron grating which is 
locked again after us. It is with the echo 
of that iron gate ringing in our ears that 
we walk through corridor after corridor, 
on one side of which is a high white-washed 
wall, on the other, little cells where men 
(many of them young) stay sixteen hours 
of every day, some for life. 

Not so terrible as you may think, since 
they are living in another world, a world 
within our world; where they work, go to 
school, take music lessons and practice if 
they wish; have a library, the books of 
which are selected and are the finest and 
most helpful that may be found; where 
they have shower baths, chapel services 
and lecturers; where the most talented go 
and perform for their entertainment, but 
where, nevertheless, for sixteen hours of 
every day they are in a little cell with their 
cot and their thoughts. 

I would that these words would ring in 

130 


IF THIS BE TRUE—WHAT THEN? 


your ears every morning when you awake 
and every night when you retire, “ Place 
a coat of armor on the young life of your 
child, your neighbor’s child, the child who 
has gone to another community and who 
still needs' you, of any child whom you may 
reach individually or collectively—place a 
coat of armor on that life so that he will 
not be as susceptible to the less desirable 
influences.” 

At last we find ourselves back at the 
door, which is unlocked by that same 
official in the great round room. We walk 
through, out into God’s sunshine and, even 
in a congested city, we breathe the air of 
freedom and liberty, and sense just a little 
more than when we entered what it really 
means. 

Thanking God that we are free, regret¬ 
ting that those men are not, we hear the 
officer say, “This way,” and we follow for 
about five hundred feet along a board walk 
laid closely to the gray stone wall of the 
Prison. He takes a long key from his 
pocket, unlocks an iron door and we enter 
—the death chamber. Cold, damp, high- 
posted, white-washed walls! Our every 
step echoes and re-echoes the fears, re¬ 
grets, longings, heart-aches, and prayers 
of those who have been there, until 

131 



THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


we almost feel we are ourselves doomed! 

On our left are two cells where for ten 
days the condemned prisoners are placed, 
in solitary confinement, to think. Passing 
through a door we see the death-chair 
with all of its attachments and the switch 
board v r hich, when the lever is touched, 
sends a man’s soul into the next existence. 

We turn, and look into each other’s eyes 
and I say, “My God, what can we do about 
this?” 

Personally, when I step out of that death 
chamber, I am thankful not only for being 
free but I am resolved in my heart of 
hearts that I wfill give of my life, my time, 
my strength, my money, to prevent any 
child whose life I may touch from trans¬ 
gressing the law r s of the land or of God. 
Yes, more; I resolve my life shall touch 
the life of every child if possible. I find 
I must reach many through just such men 
and women as read this book. 

I tell you, my friends, we shall have to 
answer for it if we do not. Not only by 
having an unsafe society to live in but 
on the last day we shall, I believe, have to 
account not only for what we have done 
but more truly for what we have left un¬ 
done. 

Truth lies scattered all about us and as 

132 


IF THIS BE TRUE—WHAT THEN ? 


long as it remains scattered the beauty of 
its harmonious elements are not appre¬ 
ciated by us, much less by our children and 
youth. I have tried in my way to weave 
together those elements of truth which I 
have felt, seen, proven to be workable— 
and visualize as being possible. 

God seems to work by the method of 
selection. All through the centuries He 
has appeared to have chosen certain 
nations and individuals to develop His 
world along some particular line. A cer¬ 
tain writer (I do not recall who) says, “It 
is common knowledge that Greece was 
called to educate the world by the creation 
of literature, art, and philosophy; that 
Rome was evidently selected to drill the 
world in the great principles of law, that 
Israel seems to have been the selected 
people, perhaps because of her natural 
religious genius, to be the instrument or 
vehicle through whom God should reveal 
Himself to the world. We can appreciate 
this only when we consider it side by side 
with the religions of other peoples.” 

All through history, we have certain 
outstanding characters who have made a 
lasting contribution to humanity. 

God chose Mary as the one who should 
present to the world a child, whom through 

133 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


His boyhood and youth she so nurtured 
that “He advanced in wisdom and stature 
and in favor with God and man. ’ ’ 

As a consequence of that well-rounded 
growth ivith initiative and vision He made 
the most lasting and constructive contri¬ 
bution of any character in history. Mary 
had a “purpose’’ for this life which came 
through her, and I believe she never let 
that “ light ” go out in her consciousness. 

Mothers and fathers are God’s chosen 
people! If not, why are not all men and 
women fathers and mothers? I admit, 
there seem to be many reasons, but back 
of all life is God and if His purpose was 
for you or me to be a father and mother, 
no power on earth could prevent it, for all 
powers and forces are subservient to The 
Power, The Force, The Over Soul—God. 

If you as parents are God’s chosen 
people, you are so for a purpose. You 
must as a parent search through your con¬ 
sciousness, your thought world, and in 
consultation with the God in you determine 
what shall be your purpose for each life 
which comes as a result of God’s working 
through you. Then if you keep your soul’s 
eye ever on that purpose, and your pur¬ 
pose be high and noble, your every word, 
act, command and reproof will have a 

134 



IF THIS BE TRUE—WHAT THEN? 


justifiable reason; your child will advance 
in stature, in wisdom and in favor with 
God and man. Not only your children will 
rise up and call you blessed but the entire 
world will reverence motherhood and fa¬ 
therhood to the extent that the Catholic 
Church reverences 44 Mary.’’ 

I said “if one’s purpose be high and no¬ 
ble every word, act, command and reproof 
will have a justifiable reason. ’ ’ There will 
be no feeling of resentment, revenge, sul¬ 
lenness or sulking within the breast of your 
child or any other child who may be under 
your guidance or discipline, if he feels 
your command or reproof is just. If, be¬ 
cause he feels you are wjust, these ele¬ 
ments are kindled and stirred, not only you 
and the world will suffer, but that individ¬ 
ual life will suffer sorely. 

We use the oil of courtesy for older 
people, why not for children? How many 
of you parents and teachers say “Please” 
and “Thank you” to your children? If 
you, at your age, haven’t respect and rev¬ 
erence enough for child life and youth to 
bow in courteous speech to it, how in the 
name of all common sens^e can you expect 
the child to bow to you? They may say 
“Thank you” and “Please,” but true 
courtesy is deeper than words. One 

135 


THE S. 0. S. CALL OF YOUTH 


should feel courteous if properly nurtured. 

If you, dear reader, “ speak to a child as 
to a disobedient dog, how can you expect to 
get back tones of sweetness?” Why not 
show this child the wisdom of your re¬ 
quest? He is much more likely to obey 
it and enjoy obeying it. Why not explain 
if one plants thistles he cannot reap roses? 
.Show him that moral law works exactly as 
the physical law. Some children want to 
understand and will appreciate your con¬ 
sideration in explaining. Some children’s 
dispositions are harassed by a threat; why 
not be firm but—gentle ? 

Professor Warmingham once said, “A 
most God-like thing is to be a father or 
mother. Children do not drop from the 
skies. Anybody may have an offspring; 
sons and daughters are not born; sons and 
daughters are grown. A man may be a 
good barber but a bad father.” How 
true! How true! 

Will you readers (be you fathers, 
mothers, teachers, aunts, uncles, cousins, 
grandmothers or grandfathers) try from 
today to grow sons and daughters? Grow 
men and women? This is not necessarily 
done by making their paths rosy and easy; 
it is done from the inside out. Help to 
make them want to be good for good’s sake 

136 


IF THIS BE TRUE—WHAT THEN? 

and not for fear of punishment. ‘‘The 
child in the meantime may lead you into 
paths long since forgotten and unused. 
The child will lead you to see what are 
‘flowers’ and then you will discard the 
weeds. ’ ’ 

“A little child shall lead, for of such is 
the Kingdom of God.” I hope I have 
made you readers feel to what extent the 
feeding and catering to physical and men¬ 
tal wants are justifiable. I believe in 
mothers and fathers enough to know that 
once they see “true values” and look 
around at numberless lives where evi¬ 
dently the wrong emphasis was placed 
upon some or all stages of their develop¬ 
ment, they will how their heads and 
say, ‘ ‘ Oh God, make me worthy of the trust 
‘You’ have placed in me. Give me light! 
Give me strength! Give me patience, pa¬ 
tience, patience, that I may reveal ‘You’ 
to my child (by birth or adoption). If 
only my child shall see, know and love 
‘You’ because of what I have been able 
to reflect of ‘You,’ I shall lay down my 
life at last and say, ‘I have done it all to 
the glorifying of God, My Father, and 
Life.’ ” 

“And thus may it ever be.” 


THE END 

137 






V 























































































































